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ST. THOMAS – More than 20 grieving loved ones expressed their pain in court Wednesday as sentencing loomed for an impaired driver who killed an 11-year-old boy who was walking home from getting ice cream.
Aiden Curtis was killed on July 4, 2023, after being struck by an out-of-control pickup truck driven by Nicholas Lemke, now 21. Lemke has pleaded guilty to impaired driving causing death and two counts of impaired driving causing bodily harm.
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About 60 people filled the gallery of a courtroom at the Elgin County Courthouse, where friends and family read victim impact statements that detailed their grief over the boy’s death.
“No amount of jail time will bring my son back,” Aiden’s mother, Sarah Payne, said through tears, adding that she struggles to find meaning in life without him.
David Archer is cousins with Aiden’s father, Chad Curtis, who is blind. Archer read eight victim impact statements on behalf of family members who were either absent or found it too difficult speak in court. That included the grieving father’s statement.
“He always wanted to spend time with me. I am blind and Aiden was my eyes,” Chad Curtis’s statement read. “He helped me out with so many little things around the home. I cry every day, and I haven’t slept right since he died.
“My anxiety has caused my physical symptoms such as twitching and shaking and shortness of breath and I experience panic attacks.”
He said he also attends counselling sessions now to help cope with his son’s death.
In his own remarks, Archer said: “Words can’t express how this has shaken myself and my family,” adding the boy was killed in a “ruthless and senseless” way.
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Tissue boxes were passed through the gallery, and sobs could be heard throughout the courtroom while Archer breathed heavily, stopping periodically to compose his emotions and wiped tears from his eyes with a tissue.
Aiden Curtis was killed while walking home with his friends and their family members after getting ice cream. The pickup truck struck the group at the corner of Talbot and Inkerman streets in St. Thomas. Four others were injured.
The sentencing hearing before Justice Glen Donald was continuing Wednesday afternoon.
bwilliams@postmedia.com
@BrianWatLFPress
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