The truck driver who killed an Olympic figure skater and injured her infant son and several others has been sentenced to 2 ½ years in prison.
The decision made Wednesday by Superior Court Justice Clayton Conlan in an Orangeville courtroom came after Sukhwinder Sidhu pleaded guilty in February to dangerous driving causing death and dangerous driving causing bodily harm for the August 2023 crash that killed Alexandra Paul north of Toronto.
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Sidhu will also be banned from driving for seven years once he is released, CTV News reported.
An agreed statement of facts said Sidhu was driving his truck at a high rate of speed on Aug. 23, 2023, along County Rd. 124 in Melancthon Township, between Orangeville and Collingwood, when it plowed into a construction zone and hit cars that were stopped near the site.
Court heard that the truck was travelling at about 107 km/h at the time, according to The Canadian Press , and that the “well-marked” construction zone had a posted speed limit of 60 km/h.
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The agreed statement of fact said that Sidhu, who had been handed multiple prior speeding infractions, had been on the road for at least 16 hours at the time and had been working for more than 24 hours.
Court heard the crash involved seven cars, including the one containing Paul , who was 31 at the time, and her 10-month-old son, who ended up at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto with a broken leg.
They were returning from a family cottage at the time with the Midhurst native’s husband Mitchell Islam eagerly awaiting their arrival at home, he told the court in an emotional victim impact statement.
“The family I dreamed of will never be whole,” said Islam, who was also Paul’s former skating partner , via CTV News .
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Islam, a Barrie native who started dating the Toronto-born Paul in 2011 and made it to the 2014 Sochi Olympics with her in ice dance, said in his victim impact statement that Paul and their son were late returning home that day when he decided to go search for them, CP reported.
He was instead greeted by a police car in their driveway.
“When the officer told me Alex was gone, it was crippling fog and numbness,” he said, while in tears, according to CP . “I remember buckling into his arms.”
As a result, Islam said their son was “stripped of her enduring love,” while Paul’s father Gordon said the aspiring lawyer’s life of “unlimited possibilities” came to a crashing halt, CP reported.
“I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye,” he said. “I couldn’t give her another hug. She was just gone.”
Sidhu apologized to victims
While Sidhu’s defence team had sought a conditional sentence of house arrest due to his previous lack of a criminal record, the judge said the “disaster” and “unimaginable carnage” of the crash and his driving record required a penitentiary sentence, according to CTV News .
Sidhu, a father of two young kids, also addressed the court and apologized to his victims, according to CP , saying he takes full responsibility.
“I know there is nothing I can say that will fix this or make the grief any better,” he said, via CP . “I understand that an apology can never be enough for a loss like this.
“To every person who was injured or traumatized that day, I am deeply sorry. I know the pain and impact of what happened did not end when the crash ended.”
— With files from The Canadian Press.