Jury finds driver guilty in London, Ont., crash that killed 8-year-old girl guide and injured 7

A jury has found the 79-year-old driver of a car that ran into a troop of girl guides and killed a child in 2021 in London, Ont., guilty of criminal negligence causing death and seven counts of criminal negligence causing bodily harm.

Jurors announced the verdict for Petronella McNorgan on Friday morning after two days of deliberations.

Crown prosecutors argued throughout the three-week trial that McNorgan could have done more to bring her speeding car under control. They successfully argued it was not an accident that McMorgan's Honda CRV hit the troop and she could have stopped the crash.

McNorgan, who offered no reaction when the verdict was read out in court, will be sentenced at a later date.

McNorgan is shown outside the London courthouse on March 18. Her trial lasted three weeks. (Andrew Lupton/ CBC News)

A publication ban is in place to protect the identity of the victims, including the eight-year-old girl who was killed and the seven in the group who were injured.

What the jury heard

During the trial, court heard McNorgan drove her Honda CRV westbound through the intersection of Wonderland Road and Riverside Drive at high speed on the evening of Nov. 30, 2021.

As McNorgan's car travelled through the intersection, reaching speeds of 121 km/h, she clipped the back bumper of a Jeep stopped at the red light. From there, her car continued through the intersection, struck a light pole, and slammed into a group of girl scouts and their chaperones as they walked on a sidewalk.

The car eventually came to a stop in the parking lot of a park on the south side of Riverside Drive, more than 300 metres away from the initial collision.

Expert witnesses — including an OPP mechanic, London police officers and an engineer from Honda — all testified the car's brakes and accelerator were in good working order at the time of the collision. In fact, the car had been serviced at a dealership earlier that day and had driven normally in the hours before the collision.

Story continues

McNorgan, a retired teacher, testified in her own defence that she had pressed the brake pedal after the initial crash but the car failed to stop and continued to speed up.

Judge Pamela Hebner presided over the trial, which was attended by many family and girl guide members. They cried and hugged each other once the verdict was read out.

McNorgan's Honda CRV came to rest on the south side of Riverside Drive after it went through an intersection at high speed the evening of Nov. 30, 2021. (London Police Service)

Criminal negligence applies to actions or omissions that display "a wanton or reckless disregard for the lives and safety of others."

More to come