Impaired driver jailed

Victim suffered life- altering injuries in ‘ horrific’ crash

A part of Romy Lam died on Aug. 29, 2013.

Although the 63- year- old Niagara Falls woman survived the horrific crash that day after a drunk driver barreled into her car, sheering the vehicle in two, she will never be the same, said assistant Crown attorney Andrew Brown.

“This family has been torn asunder,” he said of the Lam family at the sentencing hearing in Welland Superior Court of 28- year- old Ryan Dick.

“Romy Lam was not killed in this horrific automobile incident but a part of her died.”

Dick was convicted of impaired driving causing bodily harm and dangerous driving causing bodily harm following a trial.

In court Friday, Judge James Ramsay sentenced the first- time offender to three- and- a- half- years behind bars, reduced to 40 months based on the time he had spent in pre- trial custody.

“I find it hard to imagine sadder circumstances,” the judge said.

“The public is getting fed up by the risk posed by drinking drivers.”

The Crown, who had asked the judge to consider a sentence of four years in jail, said Dick made a conscious decision to drive that afternoon, even though he had consumed alcohol to excess.

He added the defendant was “piloting what effectively was a missile,” when he struck Lam’s vehicle at speeds estimated at 100 kilometres per hour.

The force of the impact sliced Lam’s car in half and sent the rear end flying into a field along Stanley Avenue near McLeod Road.

Lam suffered numerous “catastrophic” injuries, including a traumatic brain injury and two fractures to her spine. She is now confined to a wheelchair.

Dick walked away from the crash with minor injuries.

Court was told Lam moved to Canada from Hong Kong so her two children could have a better life.

She often worked two or three jobs at a time, working double sometimes triple shifts, in order to provide for her family.

She was on her way to work at the Skylon Tower when the crash occurred.

She was described by family as being as hard working, self- sacrificing and fiercely independent.

“She is now someone who says she is a useless person,” Brown said. “She feels a burden on all those around her.”

The victim’s daughter Heather told court her mother didn’t attend her wedding because she is now embarrassed by her “physical state.”

This family has been torn asunder. Romy Lam was not killed in this horrific automobile incident but a part of her died.”

Crown attorney Andrew Brown

“My future children will never meet the lively mother I knew growing up,” she said.

She recalled the time she spent in a hospital ward as her mother languished in a coma.

“You see your loved one transform, rot and disappear,” she said. “You see her struggle to try to cough to clear the liquid in her lungs but she can’t because she has punctured lungs and nine broken ribs. You pass the time staring at the dried blood under the finger nails of her swollen hands, nails that couldn’t be cleaned because of all the tubes she had.”

Heather Lam said her mother continues to struggle.

“I feel so helpless and unable to help her,” she said. “She is a captive in her own body.”

Hamilton lawyer Elliot Song, who represented Dick along with Frank Genesee, said while the case was indeed tragic, a jail term of 18 months was a more appropriate sentence.

He said Dick has no criminal record and is extremely remorseful for his actions. He said his client has not consumed alcohol since the crash and he successfully completed a residential substance abuse program.

“No one can quantify human suffering, it cannot be replicated from one person to another,” he told the judge.

“What happened in this particular case is reprehensible. What happened in this case is tragic. What happened in this case cannot be undone.”

Song said the case has been “an extremely sad situation for both families.”

Dick was also banned from driving for two years.