Victim’s family tells Askins: ‘You took away a good person’

Sabrina Alsip worked at her career as an EMT for 14 years. It is obviously something that she enjoyed.

Sonia Askins pleaded guilty to manslaughter recently and received a 25-year prison.

However, a call she responded to on July 25, 2016, changed that.

Alsip pulled up to the motor vehicle accident scene on Ky. 895 to find her lifeless aunt, Teresa Bennett, lying on the ground, the victim of an impaired driver.

Now Alsip can’t respond to an accident scene without seeing her dead aunt, or the woman, who is responsible for taking her life.

“You took everything I worked for for 14 years,” Alsip told Sonia Askins during a court hearing Monday morning. “You took away a good person and destroyed so many lives. These kids now have to live without a mother.”

Alsip told Askins that she hopes she takes a long look at her life while she is sitting in her prison cell, and that she gets her life right with God.

“I hope you know where you are going and ask for forgiveness for what you have done,” Alsip said.

Alsip added that she hopes her family can one day find a way to forgive Askins.

Last week, Whitley Circuit Judge Dan Ballou sentenced Askins, 47, to a total of 25 years in prison on charges of second-degree manslaughter, leaving the scene of an accident, operating a motor vehicle while under the influence, tampering with physical evidence and first-degree wanton endangerment.

Ballou scheduled Monday’s hearing to set the amount of restitution in Askins’ case, and to give Bennett’s family a chance to make any victim impact statements that they wished to voice.

“She took my daughter away from her kids. I just don’t think it is fair. I want her to pay for what she has done. I don’t want her to do this to another family,” said Bennett’s mother, Kathy Kimberlin, who added she hope Askins rots in prison. “I don’t understand how this woman can do that to our family.”

Also during Monday’s hearing, Ballou ordered Askins to pay about $8,400 in restitution, which is the amount still owed for Teresa Bennett’s funeral expenses.

Askins was ordered to start making the payments at a rate of $250 per month starting three months after she is released from prison.

Askins was originally charged with murder in connection with the case, but instead entered a plea agreement earlier this year.

In 2016, Askins was driving a 2004 Suzuki Forenza south on Ky. 895 when she crossed the centerline of the roadway and struck Teresa and Joshua Bennett of Williamsburg, who were walking south in the northbound lane.

Whitley County Coroner Andy Croley pronounced Teresa Bennett dead at the scene. Joshua Bennett was taken by ambulance to Baptist Health Corbin where he was treated and released.

After the crash, Askins left the scene of the accident without rendering aid, but later returned.

Askins allegedly told police that after she struck the pedestrians she drove beside them and asked if they were OK. When a detective asked her why she left the scene, she responded that she was in shock, her arrest citation stated.

Askins’ boyfriend reportedly told her to return to the accident scene.

KSP Trooper Delzie Kelly, who investigated the crash, testified during a 2016 preliminary hearing that Askins admitted to having a shot of moonshine and taking Oxycodone earlier in the day before the crash.

Askins has been incarcerated in the Whitley County Detention Center since March 14, 2017, when she failed a drug test that Ballou ordered during a court hearing that day.

Six months of the time she spent incarcerated prior to her sentencing hearing last week won’t count towards her 25-year prison sentence, Ballou noted last week.