Tears flowed in a Guelph courtroom Thursday afternoon during victim impact statements about the loss of Grace Glofcheskie.
The 24-year-old recent University of Guelph grad died after being hit by a stolen car while walking home from a night out with friends last December. Curtis Leonard Henri, 21, the man who killed her, was sentenced to eight years in prison on Thursday.
"It is every parents nightmare," said her father Gerard Glofcheskie.
"I struggle to get out of bed most days. I feel sometimes like it's all a bad dream, but I know it's not."
Her father paused several times to gather himself while reading his statement as sobs could be heard throughout the courtroom as most in attendance, including the court clerk and a special court constable, cried.
"Grace loved life. She had a tremendous laugh that was loud and you always knew she was around," her dad said.
He got the call in the middle of the night at his Arnprior home. A doctor at Guelph General Hospital telling him Grace had been hurt and they should get to Guelph as soon as possible. An hour into the five-and-a-half hour trip, they got a second call telling them she had died.
"Instead of walking her down the aisle on her wedding day, I walked behind her casket at her funeral," Gerard Glofcheskie said between tears.
Seven statements were read in person Thursday in court, including ones read by her older brothers Adam and Luke and younger sister Rachel. Five more statements were read by the Crown prosecutor.
"I'm stuck in a different world, one I don't know," said her brother Luke, who like the rest of the family held a picture of Grace as he read his statement.
Her mother Nancy said that "most of all I just miss my amazing Grace."
"I know she would have done so many more things in life had it not been taken in this act of senselessness," Nancy Glofcheskie said.
Younger sister Rachel said she lost a sister, best friend and maid of honour.
Megan Wong, a friend from the U of G, said Grace was the "definition of a great friend" and someone she aspired to be like.
Childhood friend Abby Brown wrote that Grace "had it all: brains, drive, determination and an incredible sense of humour" to go with a "pure heart."
Grace's dad said there were two books placed in his daughter's casket: a Bible and a copy of Robert Munch's Love You Forever.
He concluded his statement with a quote from the book.
"I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living, my baby you'll be."
