There were sighs of anger in Port Coquitlam court Monday as Cory Sater, the man accused of running down and killing Lorraine Cruz, 26, and Charlene Reaveley, 30, did not appear for his hearing.
Sater, 37, of Coquitlam, is facing 10 charges, including two counts of impaired driving causing death and one count of impaired driving causing bodily harm, stemming from a Saturday morning hit-and-run on Lougheed Highway at Pitt River Road.
Sater's lawyer, Tony Serka, appeared on behalf of his client and made the unusual request that Sater not appear before the court but, rather, remain in police custody until March 3, when he will appear by video to set a date for his bail hearing.
Brian Reaveley, Charlene's father-in-law, said he was disappointed but not surprised Sater didn't show his face in the courtroom packed with media and friends and family of the deceased.
"It's frankly what I expected. This will be dragged out and his lawyer will do his best to keep it out of the public eye," he said.
"My son has lost his wife and four kids lost their mother. How would anybody deal with this?"
"It's not a good situation," he added.
His daughter-in-law is remembered by friends and neighbours as a loving wife, a mother of four young children and a Good Samaritan who ultimately lost her life while trying to help two strangers.
The incident began at approximately 12:25 a.m. Saturday when Lorraine Cruz of Port Coquitlam was driving west on Lougheed with her boyfriend, Paulo Calimahin; their Nissan Pathfinder struck a concrete median near Riverview Hospital.
Witnessing the accident, Charlene and husband Dan Reaveley pulled to the side of the road and approached the Pathfinder to find the couple shaken but not seriously injured, according to police.
Then, while Dan looked on, a white Jeep Cherokee careened down Lougheed and straight into Charlene Reaveley, Cruz and Calimahin, who were standing by the passenger side of the Pathfinder.
The two women were killed instantly and Calimahin was left with serious injuries to his head and leg while the Jeep drove off and "didn't slow down," RCMP Staff Sgt. Mark McCutcheon said.
Calimahin was taken to Royal Columbian Hospital, where he remained Tuesday.
Laurie Case, a witness who came upon the accident about a minute after it happened, said she knew right away that the two women were dead.
"I knew even before I got out of the car," she said. "I went over to [Dan] and I just tried my best to be with him."
She said Dan Reaveley was in severe shock and was moving back and forth between his wife and the injured boyfriend while they waited for BC Ambulance paramedics to arrive.
Case said she was "pretty shaken up" by the incident and had been speaking with victims' services.
"The aftermath of something like that is not something anybody should ever see," she said. "It was violent."
Following up on witnesses' leads, a white 1995 Jeep Cherokee was located "abandoned in the Cape Horn area" about two hours after the hit and run, McCutcheon said. Police seized the vehicle and ran forensic tests on it Saturday. After publicly appealing for the driver to come forward and turn himself in, police arrested Sater on Sunday.
Cory Sater will remain in custody in North Fraser Pre-trial Centre in Port Coquitlam; he will appear in PoCo provincial court March 3 by video link to set a date for his bail hearing.
Between 2005 and 2009 the intersection of Pitt River Road and Lougheed Highway averaged 71 traffic accidents annually, resulting in an average of 33 injuries per year, according to ICBC statistics.
- with files from Gary McKenna
