Man who fled after crash jailed for one year

An Edmonton judge pointed to the “selfish decisions” of a man who sold his car to an auto wrecker and fled the country after a fatal collision with a pedestrian when she sentenced him to one year in jail on Monday.

Provincial court Judge Janet Dixon handed Sahil Arora a 12-month sentence for fleeing the scene after fatally striking Paramjeet Sidhu, 46, a married father of two who was crossing the street at a marked crosswalk.

Reading a victim impact statement in court Monday, Sidhu’s wife Gurpreet Sidhu spoke about the effect the death has had on herself and her children, who were only 12 and five years old at the time of the crash.

She said she doesn’t know how to answer her youngest son’s questions about why people die, and said that both she and the children feel scared and insecure.

“There has not been a single moment we do not miss him,” she said.

In provincial court in October 2016, Arora entered a guilty plea to failing to remain at the scene of an accident where death was involved.

According to an agreed statement of facts, Arora was delivering pizzas in the Riverbend area about 9:30 p.m. on Oct. 5, 2014, while in Canada on a work permit and student visa.

He struck Sidhu, who was in the middle of a crosswalk, and then sped away from the scene. Investigators later learned that he never returned to his job, sold his damaged vehicle to an auto wrecker for $150, and abandoned his home to return to India.

It was over a year before Edmonton police were able to track him down and convince him to return to Canada.

Dixon accepted the sentencing submission of Crown prosecutor Domina Hussain, who praised the police’s “extensive” efforts to piece together the case, despite Arora making “every effort to cover up” his part in the collision.

Arora’s defence lawyer Dushan Coulson agreed that his client’s conduct following the collision was aggravating, but said his choice to return to Canada to deal with the investigation does provide some “counterbalance.”

“He ultimately was the one who decided to come back,” Coulson said.

Arora delivered a tearful apology in court Monday, claiming responsibility for the crash.

“I am the sole reason he is not here anymore,” he said.

Coulson had argued for an eight-month jail term for his client.

Court also heard that Arora has been working with an immigration lawyer to determine what will happen to him when he completes his sentence.

Arora has also been ordered to submit a DNA sample to a national database, and will be subject to a three-year driving prohibition.