Voice shaking, widow of cyclist killed in hit-and-run addresses young driver in court

Posted on February 19, 2025 by Peggy

The widow of a cyclist killed in a high-speed hit-and-run in June told a Winnipeg courtroom Wednesday how her family’s lives were forever changed, her voice shaking and growing louder as she turned to speak directly to the driver responsible.

Wendy Van Loon said her sleep is still haunted by visions of her husband, Rob Jenner, colliding with the windshield of the vehicle Beckham Keneth Severight was driving that day and coming crashing down to the ground on Wellington Crescent.

“This image is etched in my mind: his bright yellow shirt and vulnerable body lying there,” Van Loon read from her victim impact statement during Severight’s sentencing hearing, the paper in her hands trembling as she spoke.

“A man who dedicated his life to helping others, who would have stopped for a stranger, was left to die on the side of the road.”

Severight pleaded guilty on Oct. 23 to dangerous driving causing death and failing to stop at the scene of a crash. He was 19 and only had his learner’s permit, and was going more than triple the speed limit in a residential area when he hit Jenner.

He never applied for bail, court heard, and was brought into the room for his sentencing hearing with his wrists and ankles shackled.

Officers put colourful markers around a damaged bicycle on a grassy boulevard. — Officers place evidence markers around Jenner’s damaged bicycle on the boulevard of Wellington Crescent in Winnipeg after the fatal crash on June 6. (Gary Solilak/CBC)

An agreed statement of facts previously read in court said a collision reconstruction analyst who reviewed the scene determined Severight was going at least 159 km/h in a 50 km/h zone.

People who saw the crash described Jenner as being thrown “no less than 10 feet into the air before his body came to rest just off the roadway,” Crown attorney Matt Dueck said.

Jenner was preparing to retire and had just celebrated his 61st birthday the night before he was killed, court heard.

Severight was driving his 18-year-old roommate’s leased BMW the morning of the collision. While the roommate was in the passenger’s seat and had a valid licence, he wasn’t legally permitted to be a supervising driver, court heard.

Dueck said Severight “rapidly accelerated” as he navigated a sweeping curb near Hugo Street. Though both he and his roommate saw Jenner on his bike, Severight lost control of the BMW due to the speed he was going and started skidding as he tried to avoid the crash.

The vehicle’s front bumper hit the bike’s rear tire, throwing the cyclist onto and across the vehicle’s hood before he hit the windshield.

Court heard Jenner was travelling safely and responsibly in the curb lane on a route regularly used by cyclists. He was taken to hospital and pronounced dead as the result of multiple blunt-force injuries from the collision.

Prosecutors are asking for a four-year prison sentence, minus credit for the time Severight has already spent in custody, and a five-year driving ban.

Mike Cook, Severight’s lawyer, said he plans to ask for an 18-month jail term, to be followed by 18 months of probation.

Court will resume later Wednesday for submissions from the defence.