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Two-year sentence in dangerous driving causing death case where convicted woman has fled to India

Harvy Panchal fled to India before she was sentenced in the 2016 death of Kate Lindsay and isn't likely to return
katelyn lindsay
Kate Lindsay and her fiance Brandon Bailey. Facebook photo

Harvy Panchal has been handed a two-year prison sentence for her dangerous driving causing death conviction.

Panchal fled to India shortly after being found guilty of the charge last summer and it is unlikely she will ever return to Canada to serve a day in jail.

Panchal killed Kate Lindsay of Cambridge in July, 2016, when she hit her head-on while trying to pass another vehicle on a hill just south of Guelph on Wellington  Road 35.

Justice Gordon Lemon, in his written sentencing decision, agreed with the Crown attorney that a two-year sentence was appropriate. He also prohibited Panchal from driving in Canada for 10 years.

It is not known if any extradition options will be pursued or even exist. That would be up to the Federal government.

Panchal, 26, missed her last five court appearances and her lawyer was released from the case last April.

"I am satisfied that she has absconded," Lemon wrote. "I am also satisfied that there it is in the interest in justice to proceed with sentencing."

He noted that the family of the victim, who have attended every court hearing, "should be able to expect some finality to these proceedings."

Panchal describes herself on social media as a "personal blogger, Full-time mommy, Interior Designer, Architectural Technologist."

Lemon wrote in his sentencing that Panchal could face other charges for fleeing the country.

Lindsay, 27, was driving her Ford Focus to work at a nearby youth home early on the Saturday morning when she was killed.

Panchal was driving in a Hyundai Velostar with two other people to African Lion Safari.

Panchal was passing another vehicle on a solid line as she neared the crest of a hill. Lindsay came over the hill in the opposite direction. At the last second both cars swerved onto the shoulder on Lindsay's side of the road, where the collision took place.

"I found that, whether there was an oncoming car or not, that act of passing on the hill when unable to see oncoming vehicles was dangerous to the public," said Lemon in his decision.

"A reasonable person would have seen the risk of passing on the hill as soon as Ms. Panchal pulled into the north bound lane."

The car she was attempting to pass sped up as she pulled out, which Lemon said should have resulted in Panchal slowing down and pulling back into her lane. She did not and continued her attempt to pass.

"It was a determined effort to pass when a resonable person would not," the judge wrote.

Evidence showed Panchal was in the wrong lane for approximately 20 seconds.


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Tony Saxon

About the Author: Tony Saxon

Tony Saxon has had a rich and varied 30 year career as a journalist, an award winning correspondent, columnist, reporter, feature writer and photographer.
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