Sentencing for driver in fatal TRU volleyball player crash set for April

KAMLOOPS — A sentencing date has been scheduled for the driver involved in a deadly crash near the university campus more than one year ago.

Twenty-nine-year-old Colval Abbinett is due back in provincial court in Kamloops on April 15. Abbinett is expected to plead guilty to both charges he is facing under BC’s Motor Vehicle Act.

Abbinett was behind the wheel of a pick-up truck which struck a Volkswagen car carrying three Thompson Rivers University men’s volleyball players in November of 2023. Two of the three young men in that vehicle, Riley Brinnen and Owen Waterhouse, were left with life-altering injuries. Another, Owyn McInnis, was killed.

The parents of those WolfPack players have been pushing for criminal charges, citing the serious outcome of the incident. The BC Prosecution Service (BCPS) conducted a ‘senior level review’ of the file. In a December news release, the BCPS stated it will continue to prosecute under the Motor Vehicle Act.

As a result, the families have penned letters to BC’s attorney general calling for an independent review of the file to be conducted.