A woman who used her father’s pickup truck “as a weapon” in a lover’s dispute has been found guilty of dangerous driving causing the death of an innocent passerby.
On the night of April 21, 2022, 24-year-old Hannah Lafferty was seen speeding and fishtailing in a gravel-and-ice covered roadway and parking lot through Bison Estates apartments in Yellowknife, stated a NWT Supreme Court judgement issued last week.
This as a screaming woman — her boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend and mother of their children — was on the running board of the Ford F-150, holding on to the interior handle above the driver’s side door.
Germaine Mantia, the 30-year-old victim, was standing off the traveled portion of the private roadway and on the opposite side of the to the truck’s direction of travel when Lafferty struck him. He died later in an Edmonton hospital of head injuries.
“I find Ms Lafferty’s failure to foresee the risk constituted by her driving with the driver’s door open, in conjunction with her deliberate decision to accelerate and swerve back and forth in an attempt to shake (the woman) off the truck in a parking area of a residential complex where she knew of the likelihood of people being present, and being on the wrong side of the road, created an immediate and foreseeable risk of serious consequences,” stated Justice Elizabeth Hughes.
Lafferty slammed on the brakes just before the impact with the pedestrian. The open door of the truck hit Mantla with an audible ‘thunk,” throwing him out of his shoes and into the air.
Some background:
- For two months, Lafferty had been dating the man, who had been in an intimate partner relationship with the woman who ended up hanging from the truck.
- They had two children, and the family had lived in Bison Estates, until the man moved out when the couple separated.
- Although the woman and Ms Lafferty were from Behchokǫ̀, the two women only knew of each other; they did not socialize.
- But some weeks before the offence, the woman sent Lafferty a SnapChat message asking her why she was hanging out with her former boyfriend.
- Lafferty replied that they were just friends and she blocked the woman after that exchange.
- On the fateful spring night in 2022, Lafferty and the man arrived at Bison Estates, to pick up his dog from his former home.
- The ex-girlfriend came out of her apartment — walking quickly, hands clenched and with “mad eyebrows” — approached the truck as she wanted to speak with Lafferty.
It was at this point that Lafferty felt threatened and sped off, with the now scared woman hanging onto the passenger side, after opening the door.
Lafferty’s argument that she was acting in self-defence was rejected by the judge, who stated she instead, “over-reacted” to a perceived threat.
“A reasonable person would have taken other steps rather than driving in this manner in attempting to avoid a conversation or verbal confrontation with (the woman),” stated Justice Hughes.
“It is also important to note that the person who was killed, Mr. Mantla, was an innocent bystander. The killing of an innocent bystander on these facts cannot be proportionate, assuming the defence is available in such circumstances.”
CBC reported Germaine Mantla was buried in Délı̨nę and leaves behind two sons.
More information regarding the victim will emerge during the sentencing phase, the dates for which have not been set.
Germaine Mantla died after being struck by a speeding truck in Bison Estates in April 2022. (Photo from Facebook)
