Christina Haugan, the wife of late Humboldt Broncos coach Darcy Haugan, told the court in Melfort, Sask., Tuesday about the immense suffering she and her two children have gone through since Darcy's death.
“We struggle every single day to get out of bed and go about our day,” Christina said.
The mother said her family will “never completely heal” from the gaping hole the loss of her husband has left in their lives.
Darcy was one of 16 people killed in April 2018 when semi-truck driver Jaskirat Singh Sidhu ran a stop sign and collided with the Humboldt Broncos team bus. Thirteen others suffered injuries in the collision.
Sidhu is in a makeshift courtroom in a Melfort gymnasium this week, where family and friends of the bus crash victims are reading out dozens of victim impact statements. The Calgary man has pleaded guilty to 16 counts of dangerous driving causing death and 13 counts of dangerous driving causing bodily harm in connection to the collision that happened near Tisdale on April 6, 2018.
In an agreed statement of facts presented in court Monday, Sidhu was found solely responsible for the crash that killed 16 people and injured 13 others.
A forensic collision report found Sidhu’s semi-trailer didn’t brake at the intersection of Highway 335 and 35 before the crash, despite numerous signs with flashing lights to warn drivers. The report also said Sidhu’s view of the intersection was not impeded by any environmental factors like trees near the road or sun in his eyes.
Christina called Sidhu’s actions that day “incredibly negligent and irresponsible,” but said she forgives the 29-year-old driver.
“There are days while the unjustness and sadness and anger are definitely still there, but I have been forgiven for things when I didn’t deserve it and so I will do the same."
Christina's victim impact statement was one of 75 being submitted to the court this week, many of which are being read aloud, as part of Sidhu's sentencing.
Bonnie, the mother of team captain Logan Schatz, recounted the pain of the night she learned she lost her son.
The panic, she said, was palpable when she entered the Tisdale hospital where players were being treated for injuries, and the sound of people crying is the memory that stands out from that night.
Bonnie said she watched as each set of parents was called away to learn the fate of their loved one.
“And then it happened. They called our names. My heart dropped. I didn't want to go with them. That was the moment my life changed forever,” she said.
The mom was forced to tell her other four children over the phone about the death of their beloved brother.
Since Logan's death, Bonnie said she has shed so many tears over his loss.
“It was a cry that I never knew existed. It hurt so much more and still does,” she said.
“I’m still waiting for the pain to lift, just a little bit. I know life will go on – but how can it without Logan?”
Shawna Nordstrom, the mother of former St. Albert Raiders player Logan Hunter, had her victim impact statement presented to the court by Logan’s billet mother, Rene Cannon.
“I keep Logan's bedroom door closed so his smell won't disappear,” Shawna wrote.
"When I cry while laying on his bed, I can't breathe."
The mother of three said her life felt complete when Logan, her only son, was born.
Now, the the crash and the details surrounding his death haunt her.
"The day he was gone, my life was destroyed. The details of this accident and the way my son died never stops haunting me."
The devastated mother of Adam Herold told the court about the gaping hole in her family's lives since Adam's death.
Raelene Herold shared the impact the loss of her son has had on her life, telling the court her family is broken.
"Losing my child is not something that I will get over,” the mother said of the death of her 16-year-old son.
“We are broken. We are the Herolds before and the Herolds after the tragic bus crash.”
Russ Herold told the court that with the loss of his son, who was the youngest person on the bus that day, the generations their line has spent on the family farm will come to an end.
He said his family name has met a similar end with the death of his only son.
After a recent family trip, Russ took the urn holding Adam's ashes in his lap and held it as he used to hold his son as a child. The father cried as he showed him pictures of their trip.
"Do you have any idea what it's like to hold your six-foot-two, 200-pound athletic son on your lap, like I did when he was a baby? Only now he is in a can. It's devastating," he said.
