Family of pastor killed in 2019 crash near Peace Arch border is calling for justice
Posted May 9, 2025 7:59 pm.
Last Updated May 9, 2025 8:02 pm.
The family of a British Columbia pastor who was killed in 2019 near the Peace Arch border is urging lawmakers to fix gaps in the legal system after the driver involved was found not criminally responsible due to mental illness.
Friends and family of Tom Cheung packed into a Richmond restaurant as his widow and two sons spoke out in the wake of the court decision.
“In the night of April 30, I felt extremely desperate and depressed, and I completely collapsed,” Cheung’s widow, Athens Cheung, said through a translator.
“I’ve never felt so desperate and wronged in my life. I was so depressed that I almost wanted to take my own life.”
It took nearly six years for the case to work its way through the court. Last month, the judge in the case dismissed the charges against Gurbinder Singh, accepting the facts of the case but saying Singh was in profound mental distress at the time of the crash.
“This government loves to advocate for mental health awareness, but where was that concern when I was breaking down? Why was my family’s trauma treated like an inconvenience?” said Solomon Cheung, the victim’s oldest son.
The family has been trying to understand why Singh was found not criminally responsible and why prosecutors didn’t attempt an appeal.
They say they feel like they’ve been kept in the dark.
“We don’t have an RCMP report. We don’t have a reason for judgment,” said Cheung’s youngest son, Benjamin Cheung.
“We don’t have a written court transcript, and we do not have an explanation of why there’s no appeal.”
None of that will bring back the husband and father they lost, but they say they hope to help make sure nobody has to go through the same pain.
