Crash driver ‘truly sorry’ for man’s death

The death of a Calgary man in a car crash has left his mother so traumatized she couldn’t bring herself to write a victim-impact statement, a prosecutor said Wednesday.

Crown lawyer Christa White said the mother of Jerjes Bou Atia, who lives in Lebanon, was asked through a family friend if she wanted to pen a statement for her son’s killer’s sentencing hearing.

“She said she couldn’t do it because every time she thinks about this she doesn’t sleep for weeks and gets sick,” White told Justice Colleen Kenny.

Pamela Florence Polkinghorne pleaded guilty to a charge of dangerous driving causing death in connection with a Dec. 8, 2012, crash.

Reading from a statement of agreed facts, defence lawyer Adriano Iovinelli said Polkinghorne was speeding northbound on 52nd Street N.E. that afternoon when she ran a red light.

She collided with the driver’s side of Atia’s car, pinning him inside.

“As a result of the collision, the deceased had to be cut out of the Volkswagen by the Calgary Fire Department,” Iovinelli said.

Atia, 33, was taken to Foothills Hospital with severe internal injuries. He died Dec. 30.

Iovinelli said Polkinghorne, 52, was devastated by the carnage she wrought.

The lawyer read in a letter of apology written by his client.

“When my mother called me one month (after the collision) with the news that this gentleman had passed away ... all I could think about was ‘Oh, my God, this is someone’s son, husband, father, brother,’ ” she wrote.

“My character consists of so much more than that horrible and seemingly unforgivable moment,” Polkinghorne said. “Words cannot describe how truly sorry I am.”

Kenny accepted a joint submission from the lawyers to sentence Polkinghorne to the equivalent of a year in jail.

Every time (victim’s mother) thinks about this she doesn’t sleep for weeks and gets sick.