Toronto

Haytham Markos nearly killed vibrant widow Dorrianne Armstrong Sears after his speeding motorcycle crashed into her on a Yonge St. sidewalk.

She read her victim impact statement Thursday at Markos’ sentencing hearing for dangerous driving causing bodily harm before Justice Ed Morgan.

Sears has no memory of the April 6, 2014 crash and woke up three months later in the intensive care unit.

Her face was unrecognizeable due to multiple facial fractures. She suffered broken bones on her neck, between her shoulders and on her lower back, broken ribs, a broken right arm, collapsed lung and several broken bones in her pelvis.

“I was very close to death,” recalled the now 70-year-old woman and former CEO of a European fashion company.

“The carnage was so bad that your imagination cannot take you to how far this damaged me. Prior to this accident, I was in great shape,” said Sears, a widow and stepgrandmother of seven.

“I walked everywhere. I never owned a car. I had taken good care of myself so that I would have a good retirement and be able to travel every where and now I can’t because I’m unwell,” said Sears.

The injuries transformed her from a once-fiercely independent, well-conditioned retiree to a fearful, anxious woman struggling to “get through most days,” she contends.

“Before Mr. Markos struck me, I was very independent. Now I am dependent on others and have to have someone make my meals and deliver it to my home,” said Sears.

Markos’ motorcycle collided with a left-turning vehicle on Yonge St. and Pleasant Blvd. and went hurtling at Sears as she stepped out of an Aroma coffee shop.

Markos was “weaving in and out of traffic and going much faster than the rest of traffic,” on a 50 km/h road, said Morgan in convicting him of dangerous driving last month. Markos, 31, was acquitted of criminal negligence.

A police reconstructionist estimated Markos was travelling at between 70 km/h and 87 km/h upon impact, said Morgan.

Crown attorney Marnie Goldenberg is seeking an 18-month jail sentence plus a five-year licence suspension.

Defence lawyer Richard Diniz asked for a suspended sentence and a one-year licence suspension for the first-time offender.

Markos expressed remorse for Sears’ injuries and wished “it never happened,” said Diniz.

But Markos told a probation officer he hopes to return to “riding his newly purchased motorcycle.”

Morgan will pass sentence on March 24.

spazzano@postmedia.com