Driver charged in fatal McGill Road crash expected to plead guilty in April

Photo: Contributed

This crash along McGill Road in November 2023 took the life of TRU student athlete Owyn McInnis and seriously injured two of his teammates.

The driver charged in a collision that killed one Thompson Rivers University student-athlete and seriously injured two of his teammates is set to enter a guilty plea in two months.

Colval Shaquille Abbinett, 29, is alleged to have been behind the wheel of a black Dodge Ram on Nov. 29, 2023, when it slammed into a Volkswagen Jetta on McGill Road near Thompson Rivers University.

Inside the Jetta were three members of TRU’s men’s volleyball team — Owyn McInnis, Riley Brinnen and Owen Waterhouse. McInnis was killed, while Brinnen and Waterhouse suffered life-altering injuries.

It was a major collision. Six vehicles were involved and 11 people were injured, seven of them sent to hospital.

Abbinett was charged last fall with two counts under the Motor Vehicle Act. On Monday, lawyers set April 15 as the date on which he will plead guilty in Kamloops provincial court.

Still seeking upgrade

The parents of the three TRU students involved in the crash, meanwhile, have been advocating to have Abbinett’s charges upgraded to criminal charges of dangerous driving causing death and dangerous driving causing bodily harm.

The BC Prosecution Service, however, has said they reviewed the file and determined that, based on the available evidence, charges under the Motor Vehicle Act were the correct ones to lay.

The families met last month with B.C.'s deputy attorney general.