Lawyer for Kitchener man who pleaded guilty in crash that killed London mother speaks out

The lawyer for a Kitchener man, who killed a London mother and critically injured her infant son in a drunk driving crash, calls the incident a tragedy for everyone involved.

Twenty-six-year-old Ahmed Darwish pleaded guilty on Monday in Waterloo to a number of charges, including impaired driving causing death, in connection to the collision on Nov. 27, 2016.

Darwish was driving 214 km/h on Highway 7 in Wilmot Township, just west of Kitchener, when he slammed into the back of a Mazda carrying 29-year-old Susana Dumitru, her 29-year-old husband Razvan, their two-month-old son George, and Razvan’s mother.

Susana, who was in the backseat with George, was ejected from the vehicle and died.

George was airlifted to a Toronto hospital where he spent several weeks on life support to treat a major brain injury. It’s unclear if he’ll ever fully recover from his injuries.

Darwish, who had a previous drunk driving conviction from 2009, refused a breathalyzer test 17 times at the police station.

He pleaded guilty on Monday to impaired driving causing death, impaired driving causing bodily harm, dangerous driving causing death, dangerous driving causing bodily harm and failing to provide a breath sample.

Darwish’s lawyer Hal Mattson expects his client to receive between five and 10 years behind bars.

“[Judges] sort of look at things like speed, prior record, how impaired was the person, and how many people died or got hurt,” Mattson said. “This is years, I can’t tell you how much he’s going to get, I haven’t looked at it that closely, but you know, I think the normal lawyer who sort of sees these cases all the time would say that these sentences are getting higher and higher all the time.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "[Judges] sort of look at things like speed, prior record, how impaired was the person, and how many people died or got hurt," Mattson said. "This is years, I can't tell you how much he's going to get, I haven't looked at it that closely, but you know, I think the normal lawyer who sort of sees these cases all the time would say that these sentences are getting higher and higher all the time."

Mattson describes the incident as a tragedy for the victims and his client’s family.

“You know the husband is saying, ‘I’m never going to see my wife ever again,’ and a mother is saying, ‘I’m not going to see my son for a number of years,’ so it’s tragic all the way around.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "You know the husband is saying, 'I'm never going to see my wife ever again,' and a mother is saying, 'I'm not going to see my son for a number of years,' so it's tragic all the way around."

A sentencing date will be scheduled on March 16.