Wendell Varlack, the driver found guilty of driving dangerously and causing the death of college student, Tofficah Thompson, tried to apologise to Thompson’s family but broke down in tears.
Varlack tearfully sobbed and couldn’t compose himself half way through the prepared apology to the family and friends of Thompson. He was so emotional that his lawyer Patrick Thompson had to read the message to the court.
The statement read: “Dear family friends and loved ones of Tofficah it is very difficult to find words to express my sorrow at what happened, but I am sorry. I know that saying his does not bring her back or provide any relief to you or bring back a love one….I know that it is a rough time for all of you…. I wish all of you can look into my heart and see how sorry I am I feel knowing that I have hit a human being…. I am in a nightmare that I cannot awake from….”
In the sentencing hearing, Crown Counsel Jude Hanley told the court that the aggravating factors are that Varlack showed a prolonged persistent and deliberate course of very bad driving; this she said is demonstrated by the distance he drove after hitting Thompson and the fact that he overtook vehicles and overlooked road signs.
“We say that his driving was aggressive and this is a grave aggravating factor because it was at a school zone and he should have been cautious because pedestrians and vehicles use the road and because there were stand still vehicles,” Hanley said.
She stated that another aggravating factor is that other traffic offenses were conducted at the same time of the incident, such as Varlack driving an unlicensed vehicle and failing to stop.
She explained that the mitigating factor is that Varlack does not have any other criminal matters, he showed remorse, and he previously had a good driving record.
In her sentencing recommendation the crown counsel noted: “A serious message must be sent to the public now that traffic accidents cannot be tolerated. How many more are we going to risk? One more is too many. The crown feels a custodial sentence is necessary in this instance. A fine is not going to be effective.”
Hanely added that having a custodial sentence is going to be a deterrent and will put out there to drivers the importance of being cautious on the road.
“Mr Varlack is an experienced driver, he was a taxi driver, he ought to have known better. We are saying that no mitigating factor that can be offered can mitigate or should mitigate Varlack being given a custodial sentence,” she said.
On Varlack’s behalf, Thompson called Dancia Penn as a character witness who testified of knowing Varlack her entire life. Penn stated that their families are close and that Varlack cares for his mother on a daily and regular basis. She said Varlack is a man who she can speak honestly and sincerely of.
“Wendell Varlack is a good solid and decent human being and citizen. He is a law-abiding person who respects people’s rights. He is a strong family man… he is known for his reliability in the territory. There are many persons who would stand here and say what I have stood here and said….. he told me how deeply sorry and remorseful he is over Tofficah’s death. I know his heart aches and continues to ache and we all were touched when he tried to read a message to the friends and family of Tofficah,” Penn said before asking for the time honoured tradition of asking for justice to be tempered with mercy.
Thompson told the court that it was clear that Varlack was not driving a defective vehicle and stated that he disagreed with the Crown when they say that they have five aggravating factors.
“This has been an ordeal that has stood over Mr. Varlack’s head for the last two years. He has been unable to work in his chosen profession for the last two years and this has caused great hardship for Mr. Varlack and his family,” Thompson said.
He also asked the court to consider Varlack’s advance age and consider the most lenient sentence.
Justice Rita Olivetti will render her decision on March 23.
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BREAKING NEWS: Varlack found guilty!
Wendell Varlack, the man accused of driving dangerously and causing the death of college student, Tofficah Thompson, has been found guilty by a jury of causing death by dangerous driving.
The 7-2 verdict was handed down at about 2:50 p.m. in the High Court today, Feb. 16.
Varlack’s bail has been extended until his sentencing on March 2 because his lawyer said he has medical problems such as arthritis/gout and high blood pressure.
He is to report to East End Police Station every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. His bail that was extended was $60,000 signed one surety.
Yesterday both Crown Counsel Jude Hanley and Defence Attorney Patrick Thompson presented their closing arguments to the court.
Hanley told jurors that Varlack was a risk-taker based on the fact that he was driving an unlicensed vehicle, speeding, and took the chance to overtake on a road that is a known school area, was poorly lit and at a time when other vehicles had stopped.
“Under all of those conditions we say that manner was dangerous driving. A prudent driver would not have undertaken in those circumstances particularly not in a school zone.
“Based on what the defendant said on the scene, he didn’t see Tofficah—whose fault is it that he didn’t not see her! It was not Tofficah’s because she did nothing wrong, she did what she was supposed to do as a pedestrian—- she looked towards east and towards west end. Other drivers stopped but he didn’t stop because he was taking risks that night and he had to go where he needed to go,” Hanley told the court.
In anticipation of the defence’s case, Hanley shot down suggestions that perhaps Tofficah was wearing dark clothing and lights shining in the defendant’s eyes.
“… Making much about wearing dark clothes in the night, other witness testified to wearing red; the reason why Varlack didn’t see the VC is because he drove dangerously. The lights that were in his eyes would be that of the stopped vehicle going in the direction of town and even then he didn’t stop. He wasn’t being prudent, he wasn’t being careful and we see that we have two points of impact. The mother said at the hospital on the 14th April that he said that he was sorry he didn’t see Tofficah. The point of impact he pointed out on the scene is not where he hit her, its where he realised he had hit her, in that area where he said the point of impact is, that is where he swerved,” Hanley added.
Hanley continued: “To drive dangerously, you don’t have to exceed the speed limit. If that was so then even when it’s raining, if the miles per hour is 60 km you can keep it zooming as long as you are at 60, no sir that is not so. If you are driving in the night and you can’t see keep driving, drive by faith and tell me that is not dangerous driving… where was he going in such a rush?”
“And if he is saying he didn’t see her how did he swerve from hitting her. He couldn’t wait, he was in a rush. A taxi man from East End, the college is on the eastern end at the island, who knows that road more than Mr. Varlack? The college didn’t pop up that night. So even if the defence refutes the speed Varlack was driving it can’t be because of the injuries Tofficah sustained,” Hanley continued.
The Crown Counsel went on to say that: “Tofficah wasn’t a stick and she wasn’t a shadow. She made sure it was safe to cross the road, she did her part Varlack did not. Varlack is the one that was not prudent. He is not the victim here at all, he had no patience and because he didn’t he did things a careful driver would not. She did not fall on top of his vehicle. The only reason Mr Varlack did not see Tofficah is because he had no intention to stop.”
Defence Attorney Thompson then told the court: “It is an unfortunate accident that touched the lives of two people and their families—the grieving family of Tofficah and the family of Mr. Varlack. That situation could have confronted any of us as drivers. We know from the Crown’s expert witness Spencer Grant that a pedestrian crossing a dark road, wearing dark clothes could cause a dangerous situation; what we don’t know is if Mr. Varlack drove in a dangerous manner.
“Spencer Grant said that on his calculation Varlack was driving within the speed limit. Scatliffe, who is the boyfriend of the deceased, testified that Varlack was going at great speed, something he didn’t say to the police two years ago…. One person can’t say it was going at a great speed and Grant says it was no speed…. Accidents aren’t crimes with any intent. It was no intent of Varlack to hurt or kill anyone…. Road accidents can happen to anyone of us. Overtaking is a very tricky thing, it is not the same scenario if the vehicle is parked on the road.”
Thompson added: “The witness said that Varlack was staggering, this does not say that he was impaired. His drivers’ licence was valid, his insurance paid up, his eyes tested, all that was missing was the vehicle sticker but they want you to think he was a risk taker. While driving Varlack was confronted with an emergency situation. The area is poorly lit, a number of factors tie in there, that does not mean that Mr. Varlack drove dangerously. She was crossing higher up at one of the worst possible spot for crossing, by the Agriculture Department not higher up by the college were it was better lit. There is no evidence he has a traffic conviction or any offence for that matter. You don’t have any evidence Varlack was driving under the influence, nothing to show he was driving at a speed, no evidence to show he has a poor driving record. We are not blaming Tofficah, it is an unfortunate accident, it is an incident that can happen to all of us,” Thompson concluded.
STORY EARLIER THIS WEEK
“I was calling her name but she was just lying there not moving, not doing anything,” Deshawn Scatliffe, the boyfriend of Tofficah Thompson testified in the High Court this morning, February 13 as the trial against Wendell Varlack who is charged with causing the young lady’s death by dangerous driving begins.
Scatliffe told the court that on April 13, the night of the accident, he was at the Marine Center at HLSCC attending a class when he received a text message from Tofficah.
He said his class finished early and he called Tofficah’s cellphone but didn’t get any answer, so he started to drive out from the Marine Center, heading towards the main road.
When Scatliffe allegedly reached the main road he said there was a black car coming from Brandy Wine Bay, driving slowly.
“So I stopped; it was heading east. I allowed the car to pass and then I drove out behind the car from the Marine Centre unto the main road. I was heading east and was on the side closest to agriculture (Agriculture Department). The vehicle was going slow, so I pulled out and pulled in front of him. At the same time I saw Tofficah walking from the main college on the seaside of the road close to the Marine Center; she was walking going west. There were lights in the road and I could have seen her.
“I stopped cause I noticed her. She looked east then west and started to approach my jeep in the left lane. At that time when she started to approach the jeep I looked down and was playing with my radio and I heard an impact to the right of me. I looked up and I saw her papers flying in the air. I notice Tofficah on the front of a minivan going east. It was in the middle of the lane going east. It was moving at a fast pace. As the vehicle kept going it swerved to the left and Tofficah fell to the pavement on her head. The van pull in by the bus stop; at that time I jump out my vehicle and got to her and I was standing over her calling her name. I was calling her name but she was just lying there not moving, not doing anything. I notice she had a gash to the side of her head and that was about it. After that I stepped back from the area she was and called 911,” Scatliffe testified.
Thompson’s boyfriend told the court that while he was over her calling her name, there was a voice in the background repeatedly saying “where she come from? I ain’t see her.”
He said that ambulance came 15 minutes after the call was made and that paramedics cleared her throat which resulted in Tofficah allegedly gasping for breath. She was then taken to Peebles Hospital.
In the opening argument for the case, Crown Counsel Jude Hanley told the jury that the Crown will try to prove that Varlack drove along the Blackburn high way in the vicinity of HLSCC in a dangerous manner, that the manner he was driving posed a direct and serious harm to the public and that his driving caused the death of Tofficah Thompson.
Hanley said that dangerous driving occurs when a person drives in a particular manner which a responsible and prudent driver would recognize could have a direct impact on the public.
Hanley said it is the Crown’s case that on April 13, 2010, sometime in the evening, Tofficah, a student of HLSCC, was walking along the seaward side of the Blackburn Highway.
“At some time she attempted to cross the road. Traffic coming in both directions stopped and gave her permission to cross. While she was crossing a vehicle driving from Brandy Wine Bay overtook stationary vehicles and hit Tofficah who was on the hood of the vehicle, but the driver kept driving. The driver then swerved and caused her to fall on the public road and hit her head,” Hanley said.
Michel Etienne, a police constable attached to the Forensic Department at the Road Town Police Station, also testified in court on Monday and said that upon arrival on the scene he observed blood on the road, items belonging to the victim and Wendell Varlack, the driver. The officer said Varlack was moving up and down.
Etienne told the court there were two points of impact at the scene and that he took photos of both sides, called a wrecker and transported Varlack’s vehicle to the police station to have it examined.
He said at the Peebles Hospital he met Tofficah lying motionless on a bed and saw doctors taking care of her. The officer said he observed and took photos of lacerations to the right side of her head, right side of her back, her right hand and both her right and left feet.
Etienne said the investigating Sargeant asked Varlack for samples and at first he refused, but after he was spoken to consented and a doctor took blood and urine samples from him.
Hanley is being assisted by Crown Counsel Herbert Potter and Varlack is being represented by Patrick Thompson.
Following the accident, Thompson went to Peebles Hospital unconscious, but never regained consciousness and on April 30 she was pronounced dead.
