“It will be a year today when we lost Colin. I still struggle. This is not something that you recover from, you get better at living with it.”
Printed Dec 26, 2024 • Final up to date 1 day in the past • 5 minute learn
A crash on Freeway 402 close to Modeland Highway in Sarnia is seen right here on Oct. 2, 2023. (Transportation Ministry)
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Scroll all the way down to the underside of a glowing one-year-old tribute to the late Colin Connelly, 61, and his profession as an IT programs skilled working for governments within the Pacific Islands and also you’ll see a latest remark from his brother.
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“It will be a year today when we lost Colin. I still struggle. This is not something that you recover from, you get better at living with it. Reading this was a nice way to connect with him. Thank you,” James Connelly wrote on Oct. 2, 2024.
THE CRASH IN SARNIA
Precisely one yr earlier, on Oct. 2, 2023, a 61-year-old male driver and his 54-year-old feminine passenger died and one other individual was rushed to hospital with critical accidents after a five-vehicle crash in Sarnia. Transportation Ministry cameras confirmed at the very least two jackknifed tractor-trailers close to the entrance of a protracted line of stopped visitors heading west subsequent to the Modeland Highway exit. That aspect of the freeway was closed from about 2 p.m. that day till round 1 a.m. the following morning for the investigation.
On Nov. 22, 2023, greater than seven weeks later, Lambton OPP mentioned they charged a 34-year-old Sarnia woman with two counts of harmful driving inflicting dying and one rely of harmful driving inflicting bodily hurt. She was launched with an unspecified court docket date, they added.
The names of the accused and the deceased weren’t launched.
NAME OF ACCUSED NOT RELEASED
A followup request to Lambton OPP final yr to get the identify of the individual charged with harmful driving was denied. A media spokesperson mentioned in November 2023 the identify wasn’t being launched on the course of his superior officers. Additional makes an attempt to get the individual’s court docket date from police weren’t responded to.
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Fourteen months later, lately obtained court docket data lastly present Stacie Rogers, now 35, from Sarnia is dealing with these charges. The names of the 2 individuals who died, together with the identify of the third one who was injured, are redacted in these paperwork.
THE COUPLE WHO DIED
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This picture of Colin Connelly and Heather Frank was posted on Fb shortly after they died in a crash in Sarnia on Oct. 2, 2023 (Fb)
The 2023 tribute to Connelly’s work as an IT programs skilled says he “died in a traffic accident in Ontario, Canada, on 2 October along with his partner Heather Frank.” His 2023 obituary additionally says the Perth, Australia resident “passed away unexpectedly on October 2nd whilst visiting family in Ontario, Canada.”
Connelly went to highschool in Oakville and his funeral and celebration of life had been held in that Toronto-area city final yr.
A Lambton OPP spokesperson lately confirmed the 2 individuals who died in final yr’s crash in Sarnia had been from Oakville.
COLIN CONNELLY
Dozens of individuals have posted feedback over the previous 14 months on Connelly’s on-line tribute, obituary, and a 3rd web site launched in reminiscence of the couple. The themes are constant: shock and grief over the sudden lack of a buddy, co-worker, mentor, chief and innovator, but additionally fond recollections about an adventurous, globe-trotting man with an amazing sense of humour who labored as onerous making reminiscences with pals as he did guaranteeing youngsters in Fiji and several other surrounding Pacific Islands had entry to high quality training.
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Connelly was born in Portsmouth, England, and his household moved to Canada when he was six, in line with his obit. After graduating from highschool in Oakville, he studied on the College of Waterloo, then moved to Western Australia the place he began working as an IT specialist.
Boxing fanatic Colin Connelly, center, is seen right here in a photograph posted on an internet site in reminiscence of him and his associate, Heather Frank. (Kudoboard)
“Colin built a life rich with family and amazing friends from Canada, Australia and the Pacific Islands,” his obit says.
He was additionally a boxing fanatic and his ardour venture was the Up City Boxing Gymnasium in Suva, Fiji, in line with an internet fundraiser.
Six individuals co-authored final yr’s tribute to him on The Australian Nationwide College’s Devpolicy Blog. One in all them, Beth Sprunt, responded to James Connelly’s one-year anniversary remark about combating the lack of his brother and mentioned she misses him a lot, too.
“Doing this work without him is really hard, grindingly slow and vastly less joyful,” she wrote. “He was a one in a million.”
HEATHER FRANK
Frank, a mom of two from Perth, Western Australia, was an internet and graphic designer with 20 years of expertise who co-ran an organization known as Frank Design with workplaces in Perth and Brisbane, Queensland, in line with the enterprise’ Fb web page. A publish two days after the crash introduced her and her associate’s sudden passing in Canada.
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This picture of Colin Connelly and Heather Frank was posted on an internet site in reminiscence of them. (Kudoboard)
A number of individuals, together with buddy Andrew Broad, commented about her loss, calling her wonderful, good, humorous, tenacious, and a pleasure to be round.
“There is a huge hole that will never be filled. I’ll miss her immensely,” he wrote.
“Heather was one of a kind. Talented, dedicated, quirky, and always so full of life. She will leave a huge hole in our hearts but an incredible legacy,” Steve Pretzel wrote.
A celebration of her life was held in November 2023 in Scarborough Seaside, Perth.
LOVE OF TRAVELLING
Connelly’s obit says he was fortunate to know Frank for a few years earlier than they turned a pair.
“She matched his love of travel and adventure and it is devastating that their life together has been so cruelly taken,” it says.
A number of individuals commented about how pleased he was spending his last years along with her and about their shared enthusiasm for boating in Jap Canada and all through Southwestern Ontario, together with on Lake Huron.
“I’m glad you finally both found true happiness in each other,” his sister-in-law, Trisha, wrote.
Colin Connelly, an IT programs skilled who had a long-lasting affect on academic programs on a number of Pacific Islands, is seen right here in a photograph posted on an internet site in reminiscence of him and his associate, Heather Frank. (Kudoboard)
OPP NOT RELEASING NAME ‘AN ERROR’
Insp. Chris Avery, who oversees Lambton OPP headquarters, and Derek Rogers, OPP West Area’s media relations co-ordinator, had been requested Monday concerning the resolution final yr to not launch the identify of the individual charged with harmful driving on this case and the remark by the spokesperson it was on the course of his superiors. Rogers mentioned the spokesperson was away and couldn’t be requested concerning the resolution to omit the identify.
“Inspector Avery and I agree that, without knowing the details, this sounds like an error on our part. It is the OPP’s media relations policy to release the names of individuals facing criminal charges in most instances,” Rogers mentioned.
THE COURT CASE
Rogers was arrested simply after 6 p.m. on Nov. 21, 2023, police mentioned on the time. A preliminary listening to into the case is about to start out Jan. 31 on the Sarnia courthouse. A publication ban has been ordered to guard any proof that will probably be heard there forward of the trial.
The costs haven’t been examined in court docket.
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