WOMAN DIED 2019, 2023 MAN JAILED

HEIDI LYNN SLESSOR DIED JULY 15, 2019

Before sentencing Thomas Stevens in the 2019 death of Heidi Lynn Slessor, Justice Patrick Boucher heard members of her family speak about the ongoing pain of losing a daughter, sister, and loved one.

Stevens, 29, of Perry Township, was sentenced at the Parry Sound

Courthouse house March 15. He pleaded guilty to impaired driving causing death on Dec. 5, 2022. Slessor was 34 and is survived by two young children.

In reference to the victim impact statements, Justice Boucher told the courtroom that what "really came home to me (was) the children who lost their mother."

"When children suffer .... they cry for their parents and, they can't cry for their mom — she's not there ... she'll never comfort them .... that's a lifelong burden those children are carrying," said Justice Boucher.

Defence and prosecution jointly proposed a sentence of 4.5 years in jail.

In December 2022, the court heard that Stevens and Slessor were drinking in his parked truck on Monday, July 15, 2019. When Slessor went behind the truck she wasn't visible from the driver's seat. It was then that "suddenly and for reasons unknown," Crown attorney Wes Beatty told the court at the time, that Stevens backed up the truck killing Slessor.

Justice Boucher said he'd been "thinking about (the case) since December."

Justice Boucher explained to the court that sentences are unique to the individual and circumstances.

In part, on one side the "impact on Heidi's family is profound and it is far reaching," said Justice Boucher, on the other, Stevens pleaded guilty, "shown insight" with counselling, and has a supportive family. Additionally, Stevens had already spent over a year in jail, with more than 200 days when those in custody were confined to their cells.

Stevens was incarcerated between July 15 to 22, 2019, and from May 2021 to July 2022. In October 2021. Stevens pleaded guilty to breaching his bail conditions between February and May 2021. The three breaches included communication with father, a ban on purchasing alcohol, and a ban on driving. He was given 80 days in jail for the breaches. Stevens had been out of custody on house-arrest bail since July 2022.

Stevens was sentenced to 4.5 years in jail, minus credit for 533 days pre-sentence custody, leaving a further three years in jail.

Additionally, Stevens can't drive for five years and was ordered to provide a sample of his DNA.