Supreme Court upholds Yellowknife dangerous driving verdict

The Supreme Court of Canada on Nov. 10 dismissed an appeal by Hannah Lafferty, a Yellowknife woman convicted of dangerous driving causing death, ending her challenge to the verdict.

Chief Justice Richard Wagner delivered the court’s decision orally from the bench on the day the appeal was heard. “We are all of the view to dismiss the appeal, substantially for the reasons of the majority of the Court of Appeal for the Northwest Territories,” the court’s case docket records the ruling as saying. The formal judgment was sent to the parties on Nov. 13.

Lafferty was found guilty after a trial in the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories in April 2025 (R. v. Lafferty, 2025 NWTSC 25) and was sentenced to 30 months in prison, Cabin Radio reported. The Northwest Territories Court of Appeal dismissed her appeal on March 6, 2026 (2026 NWTCA 3), in a split decision.

The case arose from a collision in April 2022 outside the Bison Estates apartments in Yellowknife that killed Germaine Mantla, a bystander. According to Cabin Radio’s report on the appeal ruling, trial judge Justice Elizabeth Hughes rejected Lafferty’s argument that she had been driving in self-defence to avoid a fight with another woman when she hit Mantla.

Lafferty’s lawyer argued at the territorial appeal court that the trial judge made legal errors, including failing to carry out a standalone analysis of the self-defence claim, Cabin Radio reported. The two majority judges found the rejection of self-defence was “grounded in the evidence” and that the trial judge had properly assessed the threat Lafferty perceived.

Justice Mossey dissented, according to Cabin Radio. He wrote that the trial judge’s approach to the threat of force Lafferty faced was enough to “warrant appellate intervention” and that a collarbone injury Lafferty suffered weeks earlier deserved more consideration.

The Supreme Court’s brief ruling did not add new reasons, so the Northwest Territories majority decision stands as the explanation for why the conviction was upheld. With no further appeal available, the verdict is final. This site has not been able to review the Court of Appeal’s reasons directly, and the descriptions above are attributed to Cabin Radio and the Supreme Court’s docket.

The ruling is the latest from the country’s top court on a fatal driving case. Earlier this month the court ordered a new trial in a fatal Vancouver crash case.

If you find reporting like this useful, consider supporting Canada News Media, an independently owned Canadian newsroom.