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FAMILY SPEAKS: Olivia Malcom’s mom Bridget (centre) speaks outside of a Surrey courthouse flanked by Olivia’s dad, Tony, and sister, Erica.
PHOTO CORNELIA NAYLOR
Family slams five-month sentence in teen’s death Cornelia Naylor cnaylor@newwestrecord.ca
“Total frustration” is what NewWestminster’s Tony Malcom said he felt when he heard the sentence handed down to the driver responsible for his daughter Olivia’s death. Richmond resident Chao Chen, 45, was sentenced to five months in jail and two years of pro-
bation in Surrey provincial court Friday after pleading guilty to dangerous driving causing death last month. Chen had originally been charged with impaired driving causing death and impaired driving with a blood alcohol level over 80 milligrams causing death after his Jeep slammed into 19-yearold Olivia Malcom as she stood by the open trunk of
her family’s Honda Civic while it was pulled over near a bus stop beside Highway 17 in Delta. The collision pinned Malcom between the two vehicles and carried her for nearly 16 metres before the vehicles disengaged and she fell to the ground. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Judge Emmet Duncan called the case a “horren-
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dous tragedy.” At a sentencing hearing last month, Crown prosecutor Jodie Harris had argued for a 12-month jail sentence and a 12-month term of probation, as well as a five-year driving ban. Defence lawyer Michael Mines, meanwhile, had called for a 90-day jail sentence to be served on weekends, two years of probation and a three-year
driving ban. In handing down his five-month sentence Friday, Duncan noted a number of mitigating factors, including Chen’s guilty plea, his lack of a criminal record, his previous good character and his remorse. Chen’s lawyer argued another point in his client’s favour should be the fact that Chen admitted to having had a single shot of
whiskey before driving and then throwing the open bottle (which had been in his Jeep at the time of the crash) over a fence before police arrived. Mines reasoned that the Crown wouldn’t have been able to prove those facts since the bottle was never found, so Chen’s admission should be taken as proof of his remorse. Continued on page 5
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