The Calgary drunk driver who killed 11-year-old Tammy Truong when his vehicle smashed into her family's minivan has been sentenced to 2½ years in prison.

Karl Schwartz, 32, sped through red light in September 2013 and T-boned the Truongs in the intersection of 52 Street and Erinwoods Drive S.E.

Truong was thrown from the vehicle and left "to die there all by herself," her mother, Tran Thi Nguyen, said at a gut-wrenching sentencing hearing on March 17. Because of their own injuries in the crash, neither parent was able to help.

At Thursday's sentencing, Nguyen said she was not happy with the sentence.

"We are baffled by this decision. It's not enough. I feel like a zombie. My body is there but my mind and my soul are gone. Nothing can replace our loss," she said, speaking through an interpreter.

She said she "wished it had been her or her husband that had been killed because Tammy was so young and still had many years to live."

Fighting with his dad

Schwartz, who pleaded guilty to impaired driving causing death in November, said he was fighting with his dad prior to getting into his pickup truck with a blood alcohol level that was twice the legal limit.

He has three children and said he struggles with overwhelming guilt.

Nguyen said after the sentence that she felt bad for the family.

Schwartz's lawyer, Danusia Bourdon, said her client has difficulty parenting his own children now, especially his daughter.

"Because he looks at her every day and feels he has no right to be a parent when he has taken away that right from Miss Truong's family. So it's just devastating," said Bourdon.

In addition to his prison sentence, Schwartz faces a 1½-year driving ban upon his release and has to pay a $200 victim surcharge fine, which pays into a fund that helps victims of crime and their families.