Duane Nepoose sentencing hears expert describe severe childhood trauma in fatal Boxing Day crash
Expert testimony at Duane Nepoose’s sentencing described severe childhood trauma as the court weighs prison ranges after the fatal Boxing Day 2024 crash.
Expert tells court Nepoose’s brain was "compromised"
Kate Webb-Harris, author of a social-history report on Duane Nepoose, told the sentencing court that years of childhood trauma have had a profound effect on his brain development.
She said her assessment uses a 10-point scale for trauma-related brain alteration and rated Nepoose a 10 out of 10, asserting that his brain had "developed in a different way."
Webb-Harris described patterns consistent with prolonged survival-mode responses and used the phrase "caveman brain" to explain how trauma can shape behaviour and decision-making.
Her testimony was drawn from multiple lengthy interviews with Nepoose and conversations with his sister, alongside the documented history she compiled.
Report details abuse, neglect and intergenerational trauma
The report presented in court said Nepoose grew up amid physical and sexual abuse, neglect and intergenerational trauma linked to his parents’ experiences in residential schools.
Webb-Harris told the court that Nepoose did not recall living with his father and had been told his father died by suicide when Nepoose was an infant.
Those background details were offered by the defence as mitigation, arguing they help explain longstanding behavioural and neurological issues.
Prosecutors did not contest the facts of his upbringing but emphasized that the background must be balanced against the severity of the actions that led to a child’s death.
Boxing Day 2024 pursuit ended at Macleod Trail and Southland Drive
Crown prosecutor Todd Buziak reviewed the facts of the Boxing Day 2024 crime spree that culminated in the fatal collision at Macleod Trail and Southland Drive.
Police HAWCS helicopter footage played in court tracked Nepoose as he sped through Calgary, at times reaching roughly 170 km/h, and running multiple red lights before the crash.
Video shown to the judge captured Nepoose traveling northbound on Macleod Trail and running red lights at 109th and 99th avenues prior to striking a silver Pontiac Vibe driven by Amanda Reitmeier.
Nine-year-old Victoria Desjardin, a passenger in the vehicle, was killed in the collision and her mother and older sister were seriously injured, along with another motorist involved in the crash.
Court shown police tracking and arrest evidence
Crown submissions relied on HAWCS video and other police exhibits to establish the scale and recklessness of the pursuit and collision.
A frame-grab from Calgary Police body-worn camera showing Nepoose’s arrest at the scene was entered into evidence and described during oral argument.
Buziak urged the court to view the sequence of events as an aggravating set of choices that culminated in catastrophic consequences for the Reitmeier–Desjardin family.
Defence counsel Sam Taylor acknowledged the harm but urged the judge to weigh the expert report and Nepoose’s troubled history in mitigation.
Sentencing submissions outline competing prison ranges
In formal sentencing submissions, the Crown recommended a penitentiary term in the range of nine-and-a-half to ten-and-a-half years.
The defence proposed a lower range, asking the court to consider a sentence between five years, nine months and seven years, three months.
Defence submissions leaned heavily on Webb-Harris’s assessment of severe developmental compromise, arguing that longstanding trauma diminished Nepoose’s moral culpability.
The Crown stressed that, regardless of background, the degree of danger posed by the high-speed pursuit and the resulting death warranted a substantial custodial sentence.
Defendant expresses remorse; judge will deliver sentence later
After hearing from lawyers and expert witnesses, Nepoose addressed the court directly and offered an apology to the family of Victoria Desjardin.
"I want to say that I’m sorry to the family, sorry for taking away moments that should have been," he said, according to court record.
Justice Indra Maharaj reserved decision on sentence and will deliver a ruling at a later date, after considering the written and oral submissions.
The sentencing will determine how the courts balance the mitigation rooted in trauma with the need for accountability for actions that resulted in a child’s death.
The case has drawn attention to the interplay between criminal responsibility and deep-rooted social and historical harms, with the court tasked to weigh expert evidence of trauma against the proven facts of a deadly, high-speed December pursuit.
