Victims, families share raw emotion of pain and loss as Braya sentenced for safety violations
CBC
Wendy Dalton was 15 years old and about to start high school in 2022, when she had plans with her father for the upcoming Labour Day weekend.
“My dad is the best dad ever,” she told a packed courtroom in Clarenville on Tuesday.
“He has always loved me, supported me, provided for me, and been my best friend. However, this was almost taken from me forever that day.”
Donald Dalton was working at the Braya refinery in Come By Chance on the Friday before the long holiday weekend.
His daughter was sitting in the kitchen scrolling through Facebook at 5 p.m. when she saw a post stating there was an incident at the refinery.
“Shortly after, my aunt came to our house to tell me dad had been involved in an accident,” Wendy Dalton said. “My heart sank.”
When she went to see him in the hospital, he was unrecognizable.
“The only way I could tell it was him was his eyelashes,” she said.
“What my two aunts, uncle and I had to witness was straight out of a horror movie.”
Wendy Dalton’s victim impact statement was one of six read into the record at provincial court in Clarenville on Tuesday, during the sentencing hearing for Braya Renewable Fuels (Newfoundland) GP Inc.
Family members wept as they heard the devastating details of the fallout from the flash fire more than three years ago.
Other statements were provided to the judge in writing.
The company pleaded guilty to one occupational health and safety violation, for failing to ensure that safe work procedures were followed. Nine other counts were withdrawn by the Crown.
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