Man pleads guilty to impaired driving charge in crash that hurt Regina boy

Powerful victim impact statements accompanied a Regina man’s guilty plea Monday to a charge of impaired driving causing bodily harm.

Charles Howard Raycraft was charged in June of 2022 after a crash in the 200 block of Dalgliesh Drive. Ben Dufour, who was seven at the time, was seriously injured after he was hit by a truck while waiting for his school bus.

At the time, police said a Dodge truck crashed into several parked vehicles, hit the boy, crashed into two fences and hit a house on Dunsmore Drive.

According to court documents, a sentencing hearing for the 48-year-old Raycraft is to be held Tuesday afternoon in Regina Provincial Court. A charge of dangerous driving causing bodily harm will be dealt with at the same time.

Dufour’s family issued a statement Monday as well as the victim impact statements from the boy’s mother and grandmother.

“We, the family of Ben Dufour, wish to extend our heartfelt gratitude to those near and far who have supported us since the day our lives were inexplicably changed,” the statement read.

“To everyone who supported us emotionally, financially, and medically, who fed us, checked in on us, soaked up our tears, witnessed our pain, and kept us in their thoughts and prayers, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you.”

As of Monday, a GoFundMe page for the boy and his family had received $88,377 in donations. Its goal when the page was created was $75,000.

“How do I even begin to write about what this incident has done to myself and my family?” Cassi Dufour, the boy’s mother, said in a victim impact statement that was supplied to the media.

“My body and mind have trouble taking me back to the most painful time in our lives. The trauma that we have been put through is something that was unimaginable until it happened.”

Dufour wrote about “everything changing” on the day of the crash after she sent her sons Alex and Ben to school.

Dufour described the cries of Alex as he ran home with the news that his brother had been hit, her feelings seeing Ben laying badly hurt on the ground, and the effect on her daughter, Gracie, who was left alone in the family’s house while Dufour tended to her son.

“As a mother, it was my job to keep him safe, but in this moment, I felt I failed,” Dufour said in her victim impact statement. “I could not protect my children from what was about to happen. Nobody could. Because of someone else’s decision, my children were not safe and I had no control.”

Ben had several broken bones, soft tissue and brain damage, and had to be airlifted to the children’s hospital in Saskatoon. His mom wrote about Ben’s time in hospital, the extent of his injuries and the agonizing wait for him to awaken.

“Imagine hearing that it is time for your boy to wake up — he wakes up and he doesn’t remember you. And doesn’t remember what happened,” she wrote. “Imagine explaining to him, but he doesn’t understand why it had to happen to him and not having an answer. Because there is no answer.

“He cries and is scared. He has a brace on his neck and is not able to move. But he is alive.”

Dufour added that even though her son is recovering, the trauma will stay with the family forever.

“These memories do not go away,” she said. “The pictures in our minds of the things we saw and experienced are forever with us.

“It is impossible to put onto paper how this has truly impacted us. And there aren’t words to describe it. Just know the pain that was caused was real.”

Luanne Synk, the boy’s grandmother, spoke about the impact the incident has had on the family, noting: “We do not feel safe anywhere.”

“Ben will suffer and will be impacted physically and mentally for the rest of his life because of one moment in time, a moment in time that was completely unavoidable,” Synk wrote. “A moment in time that a decision was made that will make Ben’s life a challenge for the rest of his life is something we all have to live with.

“I do not think we will ever stop asking why this happened. And we will never understand.”