N.L. street racer gets 7 years

The driver in a central Newfoundlandstreet race that resulted in a woman's death has been sentenced to seven years in prison.

Ryan Watkins, of Summerford, was charged with criminal negligence causing death, dangerous driving and failure to remain at the scene of an accident in 2009.

Watkins will serve five years in federal prison, which includes a one year sentence for an Ontario robbery he was also convicted on. He has been credited with two years prison time for the year he spent in custody.

Watkins was sentenced in provincial court in Gander by Judge Bruce Short.

Watkins and Richard Glibbery, 21, were racing on a two-lane highway near Boyd's Cove in May 2009 when Henrietta Head, 71, was forced off the road.

Head died after her car skidded from the Reach Run Causeway into the ocean.

Glibbery was also charged with criminal negligence causing death, dangerous driving and failure to remain at the scene of an accident.

Watkins pleaded guilty to the charges March 31 in Gander. Inthe statement of facts, the court was told Watkins and Glibbery were travelling 130 kilometres an hour through an 80 kilometre zone.

According to the statement, when they came up behind Head's car, Watkins pulled out to pass. He hit Glibbery's car, and the car Head was driving was pushed into the ocean. When police arrived, Watkins failed a breathalyzer test.

In court last March, a family member read a victim impact statement on behalf of Head's son.

"She did not deserve to die in such a horrific way," her son wrote. "My heart is broken, my life is changed, my mother is dead."

At his sentencing hearing, Watkins apologized for what he called his "cowardly decisions" and asked Head's family to forgive him.

Crown attorney Jerred Moore proposed a five-year prison sentence, while Watkins's lawyer suggested a three-year sentence.