CALGARY – The sentencing of a Stoney Nakoda woman who pleaded guilty in the 2020 death of a Morley woman and mother of five children was delayed to complete a mental health assessment.
Sarah Beaver, who was 19 years old at the time of the Jan. 3, 2020 collision, entered a guilty plea in Sept. 13, 2021 to being in an accident causing death when she struck and killed 40-year-old Iliena Wildman while driving.
Beaver’s defence attorney, Jeinis Patel, asked the court for the adjournment to facilitate the completion of a forensic assessment outpatient service (FAOS) report.
“Through my various telephone discussions with Miss Beaver, that has given me some pause for concern with respect to her mental health and her addiction issues,” Patel told the Calgary court. “I anticipate a FAOS report would be of some utility and that is why I’m requesting it as I believe that it may have some influence relative to the quantum of the sentence overall.”
Crown prosecutor Vince Pingitore agreed to having an assessment completed before sentencing. Beaver will return on Feb. 4 to arraignment court to potentially reset a sentencing date.
Patel said the FAOS report could “wishfully” be complete in two-and-a-half months, but “conservatively” up to four months.
He noted a Gladue report – which is completed for Indigenous people to give a full picture of the person’s life, their community and the circumstances that led them to be in court – had been finished.
In a less than five-minute hearing, Justice Richard Neufeld confirmed the sentencing be delayed until the FAOS report was completed.
Wildman was an artist and backup singer for traditional drum groups in Stoney Nakoda.
Her art had been part of the Telling Our Stories: Stoney Nakoda First National Historical Stories About Local Places booklet by Chief John Chiniquay and Ozija Baha.
Beaver surrendered to Cochrane RCMP shortly after the collision that killed Wildman.
There were also charges of dangerous driving causing death and possession of stolen property under $5,000 that were withdrawn when she pleaded guilty in September.
