Ruth Burger, the woman who slammed her car into a London Costco killing six-year-old Addison Hall and her newborn baby sister, will serve three years probation.
She will also complete 240 hours of community service, the maximum allowed under Canadian law, and is banned from driving for five years.
It was a tearful day at the London courthouse as the family members of the two young girls read victim impact statements.
Despite the emotional impact the case has had on the family and the community, the judge ruled no good would come of putting the 66-year-old woman behind bars.
"A lot of the issues that present themselves at a typical sentencing are not here," Justice Jonathon George told the court. It was noted that Burger had no ill will or intent that day and never intended for this crash to happen.
The agreed upon facts are as follows; on July 25, 2014, Ruth Burger's car travelled 60m backwards, from her parking spot at the south London Costco through the doors of the store. During the five seconds leading up to the crash, her car accelerated from 11km/h to 46km/h and not once did she hit the brake pedal.
Her car ploughed into a pregnant Danah McKinnon-Bozek, Addison Hall, 6, and three-year-old Miah Bozek.
All three were rushed to hospital in critical condition. McKinnon-Bozek underwent an emergency c-section and her newborn baby girl, Rhiannon McKinnon-Bozek, died a week later. Addison Hall suffered serious head trauma and died in hospital.
McKinnon-Bozek told the court her the last thing she remembers is seeing her six-year-old daughter lifeless on the Costco floor, then waking up in hospital without her baby and staples in her stomach.
She sobbed as she read her victim impact statement Tuesday afternoon.
"I was denied the ability to properly say goodbye to Addison... I never got to hold her, kiss her... It was impossible to celebrate the day she (Rhiannon) was born because it's also the day Addison died," she read through tears, recounting her time in the hospital. "I've learned in the hardest way possible that nothing is guaranteed... This is my life sentence, the guilt that I survived and my daughters didn't."
A total of 15 victim impact statements were filed by family members. McKinnon-Bozek's mother recalled the nurses first washing her daughters hair, pulling four cups of sharred glass from it and rinsing so much blood.
"Make her actually care about what she did, because all I have are pictures in a frame," read the grandmother's statement. Others expressed anger towards to the woman, while the father of Addison Hall says he harboured no ill will.
Following the family's statements, Burger finally had a chance to address them. Her lawyer warned that she had practiced reading her statement several times before, but was never able to make it through the entire thing.
"I am always thinking of you and the terrible times you are having each day. I was always scared that something would happen to our daughter because we loved her so much it scared us to death. I know that your heartache is caused by me. I dream of Mrs. Bozek all the time and I also dream about talking in court, to all of you, all the time. Now I can talk to you and say how sorry I am... I don't know what else to do. I've donated my organs, which I should have done long ago anyway and I will be having the red car crushed the same day it is released to us. I don't want any of you to think that you'll see that car again. The moment I remember on my court date was watching Mr. Hall on the news, telling me that he forgives me. I don't know if I would have been able to do something so very, very kind and I thank you for telling me that... This is a horrible accident and none of it can be undone. I am so sorry, I am so sorry," she told the family in court.
Some family members left during Burger's statement. The families had asked for a non-association order following the court date. However, Danah McKinnon-Bozek and Steven Bozek asked to be excluded from that following the statement. Burger is banned from contacting Eric Hall, Addison Hall's father.
Burger's lawyer told reporters outside the courthouse that he would not be handling an appeal of the case, should there be one.
During her trial, she had claimed her foot got stuck under her red MonteCarlo's brake pedal, forcing her foot down on the gas pedal. The judge rejected that claim.
There is also a civil suit, which is being dealt with behind closed doors.
