Man found not guilty in 2019 crash that killed 2 young girls north of Dauphin

The family of Oksana Dutchyshen, 6, and Quinn Dutchyshen, 4, who died in an August 2019 collision, say they were "shattered" Thursday morning after the man accused of driving the truck that crashed into them was found not guilty.

The mother of the two girls fell to her knees in sobs outside a Manitoba provincial courtroom inDauphin,while other family members clutched each other crying after thedecision was read. Othersyelledat RCMPofficers, saying they failedto findjustice in Oksana and Quinn's deaths.

The accusedwas charged nearly a year after the crash, in July 2020, with15 offences, includingimpaired driving causing death.

"The crash resulted in catastrophic damage and devastating and irrevocable loss,"Justice Sandra Zinchuk said in her Thursday decision.

However, while Crown prosecutor Mitchell Lavittargued the accused was the driver of the truck involved in the fatal Aug. 16, 2019, crash,defence attorney Jonathan Pinxsaid there was reasonable doubt about that, since another manwas also in the vehicle at the time of the crash.

Ultimately, Zinchuk agreed there was reasonable doubt about whether the accused was the driver, she said in her decision, delivered after a judge-only trial that began in October 2022.

Gaylene Dutchyshen, the grandmother of the two girls, saidthe decision makes it feellike the last three-and-a-half years of misery after their deaths have been for nothing.

"It's just destroyed our family. Our family is shattered, shattered beyond repair and we have to pick up and go on and live life without those little girls," she said through tears after Thursday's decision.

"They don't get to grow up. They don't get to go to school.... Everything is empty without them."

The family was outside the courthouse before the decision was delivered, holding signs calling for justice for Quinn and Oksana.

Identity of driver not proven: justice

Oksanaand Quinn were killed after the Dodge pickup truck being driven by their mom,Clare McBride, was hit by aFord pickup at the intersection of Road 147 N and Highway 362, about one and a half kilometres north of Dauphin.

McBride and another woman in her vehiclewere taken to hospital with serious injuries.

The two men in the Ford,neither of whomwerewearing seatbelts, also sustained serious injuries. The accused, who was the owner of the truck,wasfoundoutside the vehicle butnear the driver's door, court heard. The otherman was ejectedfrom the vehicle due to the force of the crash.

Both men had been drinking before the crash, court heard.

The accused man's DNA was the only DNA found on the driver's-side airbag following what RCMPsaid at the time of his arrest was an "exhaustive investigation."

Zinchuksaid theDNA evidencecould have been the result ofasecondary transfer in several ways including by food items dislodged during the crash asthe truck flipped upside down.

She added it was most likely impossible to exit from the passenger door of the Ford after the crash,according to a witness although no adequate photos of the crash were able to show this.

Thatmeanttheaccused could have gotten DNA on the airbag while exiting the vehicle even if he was the passenger, rather than the driver, the judge said.

Doubt about his guilt was also created throughmultiple statementsthe other man in the truck provided to RCMP, Zinchuk said.

"There was an evolution to [his] statements as he got further away in time from the collision," she said. "He went from anadmission to being the driver, to a possibility of being the driver and finally an effective denial of being the driver."

The other man who was in the pickup has since died.

Family members ofOksanaand Quinnyelled at the accusedas he and his family left the courtroom on Thursday.

Gaylene Dutchyshen said with a not-guilty verdict and no sentencing,she and her family will be unable to read victim impact statements and share what life is like without Oksana and Quinn.

"You don't get to say how this affected us, never mind what it robbed from them, these two little girls, that never get to take another breath," she said.