Man pleads guilty to crosswalk collision that killed Dalhousie student in Halifax

A 32-year-old man has pleaded guilty to three criminal charges in relation to a collision in central Halifax in January that claimed the life of a 21-year-old woman.

Deepak Sharma entered the guilty pleas Thursday afternoon in Nova Scotia provincial court in Halifax. They include two charges of leaving the scene of an accident and one of criminal negligence causing death. He had been facing a manslaughter charge, but instead agreed to plead guilty to the lesser charges. 

The collision that killed Alexandria Wortman as she was using a marked crosswalk on Jubilee Road was one of three that Sharma was involved in that night.

Crown prosecutor William Mathers said police had built a strong case against Sharma thanks to residents of the busy street who "stepped up."

"Many, many people within that neighbourhood came forward, provided statements, provided videos from their doorbell cameras, their security systems, etc.," he said.  

"This really was a case where the community came forward and ultimately that's how crimes are solved."

The Crown read an agreed statement of facts into the record. It showed that on the evening of Jan. 27, Sharma's black Honda Civic struck a vehicle on Jubilee Road. While Sharma initially got out of his vehicle to consult with the other driver, he then took off at about 126 km/h on a street with a speed limit of 50 km/h.

It was while he was speeding down Jubilee that Sharma struck Wortman, who was in a marked crosswalk. She ended up on the hood of his car as he sped away. He only stopped after a third collision at the corner of Jubilee and Robie streets. Wortman, a student at Dalhousie University, suffered multiple blunt force trauma injuries. People on the scene tried to resuscitate Wortman, but she was pronounced dead in hospital.

According to the statement, Sharma threatened to kill people who were trying to help Wortman. He was arrested at the scene of that third collision.

Members of Wortman's family sobbed as the details of her death were read into the record.

He is to be sentenced on Sept. 22 and Mathers said he expects many of those family members will want to deliver victim impact statements at that time.

"One of the primary concerns motivating the Crown here was to resolve this matter quickly, and doing so to give closure as quickly as possible to the Wortman family and hopefully allow them to start grieving and try and find some semblance of peace," Mathers said. "Hopefully, the speed with which we arrived at this resolution will assist in that."

Mathers said there will be a joint sentencing recommendation, but he wouldn't say what that is likely to be. However, he did say sentences for offences like this tend to be fairly low, in the range of four to five years.