Sitting in defence lawyer Brian Greenspan’s office in Toronto, George Dabit said the words guilty four times, while talking to a judge in the Newmarket courthouse via videoconference.
The 41-year-old King City, Ont., man has admitted to dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing the death of his fiancé 32-year-old Katarzyna Tucholska and three counts of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing bodily harm in relation to three other people whose vehicles Dabit collided with.
It was April 1, 2018 around 6 p.m. when Dabit was behind the wheel of a blue Lamborghini Aventador driving eastbound on Stouffville Road in the town of Richmond Hill.
According to an agreed statement of facts read out by assistant Crown attorney Michael Ventola, Dabit and Tucholska, who was a passenger in the sports car, were parked at a red light at the corner of Bayview Avenue.
There was a black Mercedes in the right merging lane. Both were travelling eastbound. When the light turned green, the Mercedes, and the Lamborghini being driven by Dabit, accelerated and proceeded at a high rate of speed eastbound.
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The incident occurred on a two-lane, undivided rural road which, at the time, had a posted speed limit of 70 km/h. Police estimated the vehicles were both travelling in excess of 100 km/h.
Court heard Dabit tried to overtake the Mercedes by moving back and forth in his lane, but saw an oncoming Dodge Caravan in the westbound lane and moved back into the eastbound lane to avoid a head-on collision.
Dabit lost control of the Lamborghini and struck the westbound Caravan, a blue Toyota Corolla, and finally a silver Toyota Corolla head-on.
The force of the impact forced that car into a westbound Mercedes which was behind it.
The Lamborghini came to a rest and caught on fire. Dabit suffered rib fractures, sacral fractures, pelvic fractures and pulmonary contusions. His fiancé suffered a fatal skull fracture and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Three other people were also critically injured including the passenger of the silver Corolla who court has heard was in a coma and suffered a brain injury.
She can no longer work, her ability to speak has been impaired and suffers from seizures every few months.
The driver of the Dodge Caravan also suffered a blow to his head which has left him with reoccurring headaches. He can also no longer work, as a result of the collision and suffers pain in his left hand and wrist along with headaches.
Dabit has been out on bail since charges were laid in July 2018.
The couple had just had a baby weeks before the crash that killed Tucholska.
Greenspan has requested the sentencing hearing for his client be held in person in January. It’s still unclear what sentence the Crown and defence will be asking for.
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