Surprise guilty plea puts brakes on Windsor trial into Hwy. 401 deaths

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In the midst of a Superior Court trial underway in Windsor into a Highway 401 crash that killed two in Lakeshore in 2022, the accused and his lawyer made an appearance before an Ontario Court judge across the street and entered a guilty plea.

Brampton trucker Lovepreet Singh, 29, pleaded guilty to a single count of careless driving causing death under the Highway Traffic Act.

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“It’s somewhat odd, and not odd — he’s effectively taking responsibility for what happened that day,” acting deputy Crown attorney Bryan Pillon told the Star.

Singh had been five days into a trial scheduled for up to four weeks before Superior Court Justice Bruce Thomas. The judge was advised late Friday afternoon that a resolution had been reached in the case in the lower court.

A sentencing hearing is scheduled for June 12 before Ontario Court Justice Daniel Topp.

Singh had been charged with two counts of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death in connection to a Sept. 23, 2022, crash that killed two — Syed Mehdi Hussein Bokhari, 55, of Mississauga, and Syeda Samina Sudhra Bokhari, 62, of Calgary.

The trial opened April 7 with jarring dash camera footage of a multi-vehicle collision at around 7:24 p.m. in the eastbound lanes near the County Road 27 eastbound on-ramp. The crash occurred at a highway construction zone where three lanes of traffic were merging into a single lane, and video entered as trial evidence showed a truck barreling into the rear of the last of several slow-moving vehicles in front.

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The vehicles involved in the collision included a 2019 white Freightliner tractor with an attached white utility van trailer; a 2022 white Toyota Corolla; and a 2016 black Subaru Legacy. Both deceased — siblings heading to Toronto from Windsor and occupants of the Toyota — were pronounced dead at the scene.

Singh, the driver of the truck, was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The occupants of the Subaru Legacy — family members of the victims who were also travelling to Toronto — were treated at the scene for minor injures.

With the guilty plea, said Pillon, “we believe justice has been served.”

He said there won’t be a joint sentencing submission from the Crown and the defence at June’s hearing. He said a pre-sentence report is being prepared on the offender and that victim impact statements are anticipated to be introduced.

Pillon told the Star he expects Singh will be handed a jail sentence, as well as a probation order and driving suspension.

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