A judge has awarded a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo just over $1 million after the man was hit in a Richmond car crash and suffered injuries that reignited his post-traumatic stress disorder.
OYS, whose identity has been withheld, was born in and raised in the DRC, where a civil war in the 1990s disrupted his university education and led to the violent deaths of his parents and other family members.
He suffered nightmares, hallucinations, social phobia and panic and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. OYS fled the country in 2005.
OYS made his way to Vancouver, and from the time of his arrival to July 2012, he was able to keep his PTSD under control following a brief period of treatment.
“(OYS) was in good health and leading a productive and happy life,” wrote Justice Robert J. Sewell’s in his decision.
“In that time, he obtained full-time employment..., met and married his wife and began a family. His wife described him as happy and social in that period.”
In July 2012, OYS was working as a mobile security guard in Richmond, when his car was involved in an accident on No. 3 Road, just off Sea Island Way.
As a result, he suffered injuries to his neck, shoulder, back and jaw and began to experience “a relapse of psychiatric symptoms following the accident.” OYS had not worked since the accident.
The other driver, Jing Li, disagreed that OYS's symptoms were prompted by the accident, and denied responsibility for the collision. However, Sewell noted that the statement Li gave to ICBC immediately following the accident and her in-court account of the collision were not consistent.
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