The father of the 26-year-old pregnant woman who was killed in a head-on collision in September says he hopes new upgraded criminal charges against the man accused of causing death by criminal negligence will bring the family some justice and prevent it from happening to anyone else’s family.
In their first interview since the Sept. 6 collision that claimed the life of their daughter Mikayla, Denis and Kristine Ouellet told SooToday the family is still reeling in the aftermath of the collision.
“It’s destroyed thousands of lives,” said Denis of the loss of his daughter and unborn grandchild. “We feel like she got a death penalty for being innocent and we got a life sentence and the accused he just walks away from it. It’s just bizarre.”
On Monday, Sault Police announced that 33-year-old Phillip Williamson has been criminally charged with dangerous operation and causing death by criminal negligence in relation to a fatal collision. That is in addition to his previous Highway Traffic Act charge of careless driving causing death, which carries a maximum sentence of two years in prison.
If found guilty of the newly laid dangerous operation and causing death by criminal negligence charges, Williamson could face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Williamson has not been tried on any of the counts and is considered innocent until proven guilty.
Denis said the new, more serious charges laid almost three months after the collision is giving the family some hope that positive change can be accomplished in response to the tragedy.
“They upgraded the charges and I hope there is some justice served for her so he won’t do it again,” said Denis. “You can’t just be careless, it’s just not right. It was so avoidable.”
At the time of the collision, Kristine was recovering from an injury and Mikayla was on her way to pick up some food for her mother.
“A child is an investment and she was going to take care of us,” said Denis. “She took good care of my wife, she broke her wrist and she took good care of her.”
Kristine said her daughter was excited to be a new mother and she was helping to coach Mikayla through it.
“We were planning the baby shower and she had already picked the baby’s names. It’s horrible,” she said. “It’s so unfair. We lost two people — we lost our first grandchild that we will never have and we lost our daughter, out of negligence.”
Now the tight family of four is facing a future without Mikayla or the child she would have brought into the world.
“She has been a big part of our lives. There’s only four in our family and she was a big piece of the puzzle," said Denis. "It’s so friggin’ sad."