A trial is set to begin Monday for a young woman accused of criminal negligence causing death in the 2017 traffic crash in Cloverdale that killed 17-year-old Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary student Travis Selje, who was an up-and-coming soccer star.
Rituraj Kaur Grewal, who was 24 at the time of the crash, will be tried in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster during a hearing that is expected to run from Feb. 8 to Feb. 26.
Selje’s death tore a hole in the community. The 1,095-seat Cloverdale Baptist Church was filled to capacity on May 17, 2017 as mourners celebrated the straight-A honour roll student’s life.
“There’s no such thing as closure, either,” his father Miki Selje told the Now-Leader. “People always say, ‘Oh, you’re looking for closure.’ No. There’s no such thing as closure. It’s a wound that will never close, so there’s no closure.”
“My soul is gone,” he said. “I am no longer a whole person.”
Travis Selje. (Submitted photo)
The fatal crash was at 64th Avenue and 176th Street. The Honda Prelude the teen was driving was hit by a Cadillac. Grewal was charged in 2018 with criminal negligence in the operation of a motor vehicle causing death, criminal negligence in the operation of a motor vehicle causing bodily harm, and failing to remain at the scene of a collision.
READ ALSO: Young woman charged in Surrey crash that killed Travis Selje, 17
Another boy was injured in the May 3, 2017 crash. Selje died in hospital two days later, surrounded by his family.
According to his obituary, Selje was in the Whitecaps residency program and in 2016 he returned to the Surrey United SC U16/U18 squad while also being a member of Team BC Soccer, with which he was to go to the Canada Games in August 2017.
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