A Saskatoon woman charged in a two-vehicle crash that killed a family of four north of the city has pleaded guilty.
Catherine McKay, who remains in custody, appeared in Saskatoon Provincial Court via video Wednesday and pleaded guilty to four counts of impaired driving causing death.
The 49-year-old was charged with multiple impaired driving offences after the Jan. 3 crash at Highway 11 and Wanuskewin Road. Parents Jordan and Chanda Van de Vorst died at the scene. Their two young children, five-year-old Kamryn and two-year-old Miguire, died in hospital.
“I can just imagine what the trial would be like if she decided to plead not guilty,” said Lou Van de Vorst, Jordan’s father, at his family home in Saskatoon. “I think everybody is (feeling) a sense of relief that she pled guilty. That means that this is going to come to an end sooner than later, in that respect.”
He still gets teary-eyed when he speaks of the tragedy.
“Our lives have changed a lot. We used to have 14 people at our family gatherings four of them have gone now” he said. “I never thought in my life that I would be visiting a cemetery every week.”
Jordan worked as a microbiologist at research company Phenomenome Discoveries. The company said after the crash that more than 50 people received transplants through organ donations from the family.
McKay, listed at the time as executive director of the Saskatoon Sports Council, was an active member of the city's wrestling community.
“Ms. McKay, certainly through my dealings with her, has basically taken full responsibility for this,” her defence lawyer, Leslie Sullivan, said outside court.
“I know from my discussions with her she was very anxious to achieve this and get to this point.”
A sentencing hearing is set for July 27. Twelve remaining charges against McKay will be dealt with at the sentencing.
Lou said he hopes to see a stiff sentence and that his family’s story deters others from drinking and driving.
--- with files from The Canadian Press
