'Unbelievable': Family, supporters of Baeleigh Maurice call for justice after court decision

A judge’s decision to stay the charge against a driver who hit and killed a child is causing some online uproar. Many of the victim’s supporters took to social media to call for justice in the death the nine-year-old girl.

On Friday, a provincial court judge ruled Taylor Kennedy’s case was not handled within a reasonable time.

Kennedy was charged with impaired driving exceeding the prescribed blood-drug concentration of THC, causing the death of nine-year-old Baeleigh Maurice.

Maurice was going to school on Sept. 9, 2021, pushing her scooter at a crosswalk on 33rd Street West, when she was hit by Kennedy's truck.

Matters at Canadian provincial courts must reach a conclusion by 18 months. Judge Jane Wootten ruled Kennedy's matter took about 24 months.

Baeleigh Maurice’s supporters held a protest and took to Facebook to express their frustrations with the decision.

“My heart hurts for her family to know justice is yet to be served,” one Facebook post read.

“It’s unbelievable that in a time when we say, “Every Child Matters”, we still fail children like Baeleigh,” another post read.

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Brady Knight, a criminal defence lawyer in Saskatoon, says the Crown has 30 days to appeal the decision.

“The Crown needs to show either exceptional circumstances, so something that could not have been reasonably foreseen when the trial dates were set down, or secondly, that this was an overly complicated case,” Knight said in an interview with CTV News.

He notes there are “high standards” when trying to prove the exceptional circumstances or complicated case criteria has been met.

During Kennedy’s court hearing on Friday, the prosecution argued the delay was attributed to the case's complexity and exceptional events — referencing the COVID-19 pandemic.

Wootten ruled there was only one accused, one charge, involving one day and one incident.

She agreed that a backlog of cases developed in the aftermath of the pandemic, but could not attribute a particular length of delay to COVID-19.

In a statement to CTV News, a spokesperson with the Ministry of Justice and Attorney General said, “Public Prosecutions is reviewing the decision to stay this case to assess whether there are any appropriate legal grounds to file a notice of appeal.”

Meanwhile, Baeleigh Maurice’s aunt, Rhane Mahingen, is asking people to remember the nine-year-old girl.

"I don’t want people to forget this little girl," Mahingen said.

-With files from Laura Woodward