Guilty on all charges: Colin Tweedie convicted in hit-and-run death of 10-year-old Cape Breton girl

A judge has found Colin Tweedie guilty on three counts in connection to the death of 10-year-old Talia Forrest on a Cape Breton road on July 11, 2019.

Nearly five years after the hit-and-run death of a 10-year-old Cape Breton girl who was riding her bicycle on a rural road, the driver who struck Talia Forrest was found guilty on all three charges against him at Sydney Supreme Court on Friday.

Justice Kevin Coady convicted 32-year-old Colin Tweedie on counts of dangerous driving causing death, impaired driving causing death and leaving the scene of an accident.

At his first trial in March 2022, Tweedie was initially found not guilty on all three charges. The Nova Scotia Court of Appeal overturned that decision in January 2023, and a new trial was ordered.

 “Oh, my God, thank the Lord, justice got served today,” said Leahann Arsenault, Forrest’s aunt, as she and a large crowd of family members and supporters walked out of the court room after the decision was handed down.

“It’s been a while – almost five years of fighting for justice for Talia — and we just got it,” said Halen Williams, Forrest’s cousin.

Forrest and a friend were riding their bikes on the Black Rock Road in Black Rock, N.S., on the night of July 11, 2019 when Forrest was struck by a 2004 Nissan XTerra driven by Tweedie.

The court was told that the vehicle continued on, dragging the bicycle underneath it for approximately 1.15 kilometers.