Six years after a Pontiac SUV slammed into his daughter, killing her instantly, Ron Mahy is hopeful that the man behind the wheel will be coming to Canada to face justice.
Mahy, who has doggedly persisted in having the police and courts pursue this case, said he was recently told by the crown prosecutor that the man charged in the fatality, Erjon Kashari, has been arrested in Bulgaria and will be sent back to Richmond when COVID-related travel restrictions are lifted.
“She (the prosecutor) congratulated me on my persistence. In six years I haven’t given it up. I couldn’t,” said Mahy.
In an email to the Richmond News, Alisia Adams with the BC Prosecution Service, would only confirm, as she did a year ago, that Kashari has been charged with criminal negligence causing the death of Christy.
However, she directed inquiries about his arrest and extradition to the federal Department of Justice's International Assistance Group. The News reached out but did not hear back by the time of publication.
It was July 30, 2014 when Ron’s daughter, Christy Mahy, 36, was standing with her bike at the Dinsmore Bridge intersection on Russ Baker Way on her way home to Burkville, when an SUV, bearing an N, jumped the curb and plowed into her.
The driver stayed at the scene and there were numerous witnesses.
However, the driver was not charged and soon after left the country.
For the first few years after the tragic accident, Mahy said he was given little information regarding the case and, to this day, he still doesn’t understand why the driver wasn’t charged immediately, particularly as there were so many witnesses prepared to give statements.
Determined to not let his daughter’s story be forgotten, however, Mahy, a Harley Davidson rider, organized a motorcycle ride in Christy’s name in 2015, which has run every years since -- and this year will be no different.
Riders will convene at the parking lot beside the Flying Beaver Bar and Grill on Inglis Drive on July 25 at 2 p.m. and the ride will get underway at 2:30 p.m.
“It will be a good ride this year. We’ll have about 40 or 50 riders.”
The ride will end with a barbecue in Langley -- albeit with tables spread out, and masks and hand sanitizer on hand to guard against COVID, said Mahy.
Mahy, who worked in the film industry, but has since retired to the Sunshine Coast, will make his annual pilgrimage to Richmond for the event.
But before he joins the other riders, Mahy said he will take a few minutes to sit on the bench in Flight Path Park that has been dedicated to his daughter.
There, just metres away from where the crash happened, he will think about his daughter and the sad irony that this was the very same spot that he and Christy’s mother had their first date, “watching the planes.”
Christy’s mom died of cancer in 2005.
In past years, when Mahy has sat on that bench, the sadness has been mixed with bitterness and frustration at the thought that someone may never face the consequence of having taken his daughter’s life.
This year, however, he said there is a touch of hope that justice will be served, as well as a sense of appreciation for those within the court system who have not let this case go.
