Duane Smith.

Image Credit: FACEBOOK:Duane Smith

High on drugs and hitting speeds of 150 km/h, Duane Glen Smith lost control of the Buick sedan he was driving and the car left the highway and rolled over.

His girlfriend, Dakota Shaw, who was sitting in the passenger seat was thrown out of the vehicle and died in the hospital nine hours later. She was three-and-a-half months pregnant.

However, Duane has avoided jail and will instead do two years of house arrest.

According to a Feb. 15 B.C. Provincial Court decision, Smith was found to have methamphetamine, amphetamine, fentanyl and oxycodone in his system at the time of the crash. He also admitted to drinking alcohol.

The decision says the crash took place on Highway 16 about an hour’s drive east of Prince George in September 2019.

Smith, 44, was later charged with impaired operation of a motor vehicle causing death and dangerous driving causing death.

On the fifth day of the trial, Smith pleaded guilty to a charge of dangerous driving causing death.

The decision says the road was dry and quiet at the time of the crash and multiple witnesses testified that they saw Smith driving erratically.

"They observed him spending protracted amounts of time in the oncoming lane, straddling the centre line and on one occasion nearly sideswiping another vehicle," Judge Judith Doulis says in the decision. "All witnesses testified Duane Smith was driving at an excessive speed."

Smith himself admitted he was "booking it" and told a paramedic at the scene that he was going "way too fast." He and Shaw had been driving with their pets, a dog and a cat in the back seat.

Smith had told the court Shaw unbuckled her seatbelt to secure the cat when the crash happened.

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The decision says Smith grew up in Valemount, but lived for a while in Salmon Arm where he played midget hockey and graduated from high school. He'd recently lived in Kamloops, Clearwater and Blue River with Shaw but was now back in Valemount.

"Duane Smith had a troubled childhood. His mother was only 15 when he was born. Duane Smith was kicked out of his home at 14," the judge says.

However, Smith doesn't have a criminal record – although has been convicted of speeding several times – and had worked his whole life.

However, when he was 21 years old he suffered serious injuries when a load of logs fell on him and crushed him at work. He spent three months in a medically-induced coma.

Smith also became addicted to opioids which he attributes to the medication he received after the accident.

Shaw's mother and grandmother were devastated by their loss.

Judge Doulis says Shaw's mother had become depressed, quit school and lost jobs after her daughter died.

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Crown prosecutors argued Smith should spend two years behind bars.

However, Judge Doulis settled instead for house arrest.

"Dakota Shaw’s death was tragic. No sentence I can impose on Duane Smith will bring her back to her family. No sentence, no matter how long or punitive, can reflect Dakota Shaw’s value to her loved ones or assuage their pain or loss," the judge said. "Where there is death, and there can be no reparation for the harm done to the victim."

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The decision says that a sentence of house arrest wasn't available in September 2019 when the crash happened but since then the law had changed and house arrest was now an option.

Ultimately, Judge Doulis sentenced Smith to 24 months of house arrest, and for the first 18 months he will have to be at home 24/7, although will be allowed to visit his grandfather.

For the last six months, Smith will be under curfew from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. He was also banned from driving for five years.

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