Excerpts of letter by Robby Singh to the Vancouver provincial court

Hardly a day goes by when Robby Singh does not wake up in cold sweat to the sound of screeching tires, the deafening bang of twisting metal and the sirens of emergency crews.

The 25-year-old Greater Vancouver resident often replays in his mind the moments that has made him a prisoner of his past with a future of pain.

The nightmares are his own recreation of the events that occurred around 1:45 AM on June 14, 2002 on Vancouver's Southeast Marine Drive.

What really happened could not be worse.

After a night of drinking with his younger brother Sonny, who had just turned 20, the two piled into Robby's 1994 Acura Integra.

Robby was driving. Sonny was not wearing his seatbelt.

While going around a long turn on S.E. Marine Drive near Marine Way, Robby lost control of his vehicle. The car was going between 96 to 124 kph in a 50 kph zone.

The vehicle began to rotate clock-wise and travelled sideways out of control. The front end mounted the south curb and piled through bushes and shrubs. The left side of the vehicle behind the driver's door hit a light pole and the force of the impact caused the vehicle to bend the pole.

The car flipped onto its roof and came to a rest.

When emergency crews arrived at the scene, they had to lift the car to free Robby. His blood alcohol level was twice the legal limit.

Sonny was dead. His skull was fractured. He had more alcohol in his blood than Robby.

"There is not one day that goes by that I don't think of my baby brother and the fact that my actions led to him not being here today. I think about him in everything I do. Although I do not recall the accident itself, I have nightmares about what I have been told what happened," Robby told the Vancouver provincial court in a letter recently.

"I am often awoken by my own recreation of what happened. I do recall the moment I was told that my youngest brother was gone. I could not accept the reality that I would never see him again, hear his voice or watch him play soccer," Robby wrote, after he plead guilty to charges of drunk driving that led to the death of his brother.

Robby's remorse and an outpouring of grief, sympathy and support in the form of 80 letters from members of B.C.'s Sikh community led provincial court judge C.E. Warren to deny a prosecution request for a two to three jail term.

The crown wanted a penalty that would deter and denounce the crime.

Instead Judge Warren sentenced Robby on July 23 to two years less a day to be served in the community with stringent conditions that will last for almost five years.

The Vancouver courtroom was packed with relatives and friends who had written the letters.

"From these letters it is apparent that Robby Singh has a great deal of emotional support from his family, friends and colleagues. The letters also indicate the terrible hole that has been left in the family as the result of Sonny's death. Many of the letters describe the initial grief and anger each one felt, but ultimately they all seek leniency for Robby Singh in recognition of his suffering that they have witnessed over the past two years," Judge Warren said.

"?The expression of remorse, the lack of record, and recognition that in this particular instance Mr. Singh is not only the offender, but also the victim and has clearly suffered terribly as a result of his actions and will continue to suffer for the rest of his life, that the appropriate length of sentence is two years less one day.

"It appears, Mr. Singh, that apart from the very significant deviation in your behaviour which has brought you to Court, you have been living an exemplary life...I am satisfied that you will continue to live an exemplary life and in this way honour your family and the memory of your brother," said the judge.

Prior to the sentencing the court heard that Robby's parents were separated in early to mid 1990's after his father suffered a workplace accident and eventually become addicted to pain medication.

Every day in Canada four people are killed and about 200 others are injured in motor vehicle accidents involving drunk drivers.

As a result Robby's mother had to move to a basement suite where she struggled to raise four sons on her own - Johnny who is now 29, Robby and his twin brother, Billy and Sonny.

Robby attended Capilano College after graduating from high school but he dropped out to work at Save-On-Foods to help with mortgage payments. He had co-signed a mortgage with his mother when he was 19.

He later became an insurance agent. His mother Jasvir Singh described to the court a life prior to the accident, of considerable hardship which had been largely overcome by extreme hard work and the loving support of a close knit family and community.

She also described in a heartrending fashion the unspeakable grief which she has suffered at the loss of her son Sonny, and the terrible changes which she has witnessed in her son Robby since the accident.

In his letter to the court Robby wrote: "Today, I live for my mother. I cannot bear for her to endure any more pain. She has sacrificed so much in her life and has always put the need of her children first. ..I am twenty five years old and while many of my peers are looking to settle down and begin their own families, I do not see any kind of happiness for me in this regard...I feel I have taken Sonny away from not only his own family but the whole community.."