
In a heartrending development, Charles Howard Raycraft, a 47-year-old resident of Regina, has entered a guilty plea to the charge of impaired driving, linked to a collision that left a seven-year-old boy severely injured. The child, Benjamin Dufour, was waiting for a school bus when he was struck.
Raycraft accepted responsibility for operating a conveyance while impaired, offering his plea in a Regina provincial court on Monday. Formal sentencing is slated for the following day. Another count against Raycraft, that of dangerous driving causing bodily harm, is yet to be addressed in court.
The tragic incident unfolded on the morning of June 21, 2022. Young Benjamin was waiting on the 200 block of Dalgliesh Drive when a black Dodge Ram, driven by Raycraft, hit him around 8:30 a.m. The truck had already collided with multiple vehicles prior to impacting the boy and subsequently crashing into a nearby house.
In an emotional recount, Benjamin’s mother, Cassi Dufour, narrated her terrifying experience discovering her injured son on the scene. “You see people huddled around your precious boy laying on the ground. His backpack and glasses have been ripped off his small body,” she said.
Following the collision, Benjamin had to be airlifted to Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital in Saskatoon. His injuries were grave, including multiple broken bones, soft tissue damage to his C-spine, and a traumatic brain injury. The boy regained consciousness two weeks post the crash and showed promising signs of recovery.
Reflecting poignantly on their ordeal, Cassi touched on the arduous recovery process. The boy’s recuperation involved months of hospital visits, surgeries, check-ups with specialists, a plethora of medical equipment, special diets, pain medications, and a tumbling mix of fear, pain, and resilience from within. “Imagine this as just a very small fraction of what we had to go through,” she said.
Cassi emphasized the lasting effects of this incident on her family, expressing that trauma like this does not fade.
In response to Raycraft’s guilty plea, the Dufour family expressed their gratitude to the individuals who have supported them post-Benjamin’s traumatic incident. In a statement, they said, “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.”