The trial of a Nanaimo woman facing impaired and dangerous driving charges following a tragic car crash three years ago will not be over before Christmas.
Clare Bekkers, 38, is facing eight charges following a car crash on the Island Highway Dec. 22, 2008 that killed her two sons and injured her two daughters. Bekkers, driving northbound on the Island Highway, crossed the centre line into southbound traffic, triggering a multi-car collision.
Her trial in Supreme Court in Nanaimo started in September and was adjourned several times over the past few months.
The trial was scheduled to continue this week, but Crown counsel Frank Dubenski said court proceedings adjourned after about one hour Wednesday.
“The Crown asked for an adjournment in order to obtain our own mechanical engineer to consider the evidence of the defence expert,” he said. “We were taken by surprise by certain aspects of the expert’s opinion that hadn’t been previously disclosed to the Crown.”
Last week, the defence called Geoff Evans, a civil engineer with a background in forensic accident analysis, to give his opinion of what happened leading up to the car crash.
The case is back in court Jan. 16 to fix a date for continuation of the trial.
