TransLogistics

Transport and Logistics Network

Widower testifies at trial of accused in London crash that killed wife

  1. News[1]
  2. Local News[2]

What Paul Kay could remember about the collision was a loud bang and a white flash before he went unconscious.

A woman was killed in a collision between an SUV and a sedan on Oct. 7, 2019
Penny Kay was killed in a collision between an SUV and a sedan on Oct. 7, 2019, on Highbury Avenue just north of Scotland Drive in London. (Derek Ruttan/The London Free Press)

What Paul Kay could remember about the collision was a loud bang and a white flash before he went unconscious.

Story continues below

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.

  • Exclusive articles from Ryan Pyette, Dale Carruthers, Jane Sims, Norman De Bono and others. Plus, the Noon News Roundup newsletter on weekdays and the LFP Weekender newsletter on weekends.
  • Unlimited online access to London Free Press and 15 news sites with one account.
  • London Free Press ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.
  • Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword.
  • Support local journalism.

SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES

Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.

  • Exclusive articles from Ryan Pyette, Dale Carruthers, Jane Sims, Norman De Bono and others. Plus, the Noon News Roundup newsletter on weekdays and the LFP Weekender newsletter on weekends.
  • Unlimited online access to London Free Press and 15 news sites with one account.
  • London Free Press ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.
  • Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword.
  • Support local journalism.

REGISTER TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES

Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.

  • Access articles from across Canada with one account.
  • Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.
  • Enjoy additional articles per month.
  • Get email updates from your favourite authors.

He and his wife Penny, 68, from Sparta, were on their way to shop at Princess Auto in London on Oct. 7, 2019, driving north on Highbury Avenue, when a southbound car came over the centre line and crashed into them in the southbound shoulder, where the Kays’ vehicle swerved to try to avoid disaster.

He testified Monday at the trial of Shawn Norris that he came to when a police officer was banging on the window of his Ford Escape, asking if he was injured.

His wife was in the passenger seat. “I looked at my wife. I wanted to see if her chest was rising or falling. It wasn’t,” Kay said during his testimony in a London courtroom.

He said he put his finger under her nose to see if he could feel any cool air. He couldn’t. “I figured she had passed,” he said.

Story continues below

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Norris, 61, has pleaded not guilty to both dangerous driving causing death and bodily harm and impaired by drug while driving causing death and bodily harm.

Shawn Norris
Shawn Norris is pictured outside the London courthouse in 2019. (JANE SIMS/The London Free Press)

The trial began Monday morning before Superior Court Justice Patricia Moore. The Crown indicated it wants to prove Norris was impaired by prescription drugs when he veered across the solid centre line on Highbury Avenue near Scotland Road and plowed into the Kays’ SUV more than three years ago.

The court also saw a video – taken by the dashboard camera of a trucker travelling behind the Kays – that showed the entire crash unfolding in seconds.

The Crown’s first witness was Norris’s former live-in girlfriend, Christine Flint, a double-amputee who testified seated in her wheelchair. She described how Norris routinely used her powerful painkillers – Percocet and oxycodone – and would sometimes refill her prescriptions without her knowledge.

Story continues below

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

“He used my medications like they were his” when the couple was still together and living in St. Thomas, she said.

Flint testified she didn’t think she and Norris would have gotten together if she hadn’t been on the drugs. Her drugs were on top of whatever else he was taking. She added that they “had good times together” when Norris was taking the drugs.

Flint said the night before the crash, Norris had fallen down the stairs in their home and broke his recent knee replacement. She went upstairs to bed, while he stayed downstairs and slept in his easy chair.

She said she knew he was taking her pain and anti-anxiety mediation. His plan was to go to London to fill his methadone prescription and she was upset about him driving.

Story continues below

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

“You could tell he was in a lot of pain,” Flint said, confirming she saw him with her prescription bottles and taking some pills.

She said he left and “I don’t really talk to him before he goes to London.” The next time she saw him was when he was in hospital in London after the crash. He was later transferred to St. Thomas hospital.

The relationship was over by January 2020 and Flint said she moved to Brampton and now lives in Mississauga. She maintained contact with Norris by text message right up until last Friday. Their conversations would sometimes touch on the crash.

Norris told her, she said, that he didn’t remember anything and “that he’s afraid to go to jail.”

Flint said she went to the London police two weeks ago and gave a statement because of “the fact that my medication likely cost somebody their life.”

Story continues below

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Defence lawyer Robert Farrington reviewed Flint’s criminal record, dating back to 1983, that includes several convictions for fraud over $5,000 and forged documents. Her last convictions in 2010 netted her five years in prison. She also agreed that from time to time, she had sold her prescription medications.

  1. A woman was killed in a collision between and SUV and a sedan on Highbury Avenue just north of Scotland Drive in London. (Derek Ruttan/The London Free Press)

    Woman dead after head-on crash in rural south London

    [3]

  2. A woman was killed in a collision between an SUV and a sedan on Oct. 7, 2019, on Highbury Avenue just north of Scotland Drive in London. (Derek Ruttan/The London Free Press)

    London man charged in fatal south end crash

    [4]

The court also heard from Mark Frederick, who described seeing a car heading south on Highbury Avenue between Commissioners Road and Bradley Avenue, where Highbury is a wide four-lane road with a wide grass median, shortly before the crash.

The car left the road and skidded sideways into the centre median, kicking up grass and mud into the northbound lanes.

Story continues below

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Frederick was a passenger in the vehicle and a work colleague was driving. He said the car stopped for no more than five seconds, then headed back to join the southbound traffic.

“For me, it was like something out of a movie,” Frederick said. “It didn’t make sense.”

Later, when he heard about the serious crash on Highbury Avenue, not far from where he had seen the car briefly leave the road, Frederick called police.

Doug Taylor, a transport truck driver from Chatham-Kent, also testified and it was his dashcam footage that was shown to the court.

Taylor said he could see the car in the southbound lanes cross into oncoming traffic. He and the SUV in front of him slowed down and the SUV moved to the shoulder to get out of the way. The grey-coloured sedan went all the way across the northbound lane and head-on into the SUV on the shoulder.

Story continues below

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Taylor said he pulled over, put on his four-way flashers, grabbed his safety vest and went toward the crash. Other witnesses said the situation was under control, so he left. He later supplied the camera footage to police.

Kay said the crash “happened instantaneously.”

Kay told the court he suffered a shoulder injury, a broken sternum and eight broken ribs. His most severe injury was caused by the seatbelt cutting into his internal organs and breaking his back.

“It hurts everyday and limits what I can do,” he said. “I now get my 14-year-old granddaughter to lift things for me.”

[email protected][5]

twitter.com/JaneatLFPress[6]

Comments

Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion and encourage all readers to share their views on our articles. Comments may take up to an hour for moderation before appearing on the site. We ask you to keep your comments relevant and respectful. We have enabled email notifications—you will now receive an email if you receive a reply to your comment, there is an update to a comment thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines[7] for more information and details on how to adjust your email settings[8].

Join the Conversation

    Story continues below

    This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

    References

    1. ^ News (lfpress.com)
    2. ^ Local News (lfpress.com)
    3. ^ Woman dead after head-on crash in rural south London (lfpress.com)
    4. ^ London man charged in fatal south end crash (lfpress.com)
    5. ^ [email protected] (lfpress.com)
    6. ^ twitter.com/JaneatLFPress (twitter.com)
    7. ^ Community Guidelines (lfpress.com)
    8. ^ email settings (lfpress.com)

    Tags: