Woman guilty in fatal hit-and-run handed conditional sentence

Woman sentenced in deadly hit-and-run The woman guilty of leaving the scene of a fatal hit-and-run received a sentence that enraged the victim's family on Friday.

The woman found guilty in a fatal hit-and-run in Springwater Township was handed a conditional sentence on Friday, including house arrest.

"The worst decision that we could hear. This judge is totally supporting criminals, and I am speechless," said Dominik Adamek's father, Andrew Adamek, outside the courthouse following the sentencing decision.

"Someone killed my brother, killed my parents' son, and it seems like we're the ones getting the sentence, that we've been sentenced to a punishment when we've done nothing wrong," said Kirstian Adamek, the victim's brother.

Maimuna Baldeh was convicted in November of failing to stop at a crash causing the death of Dominik Adamek on May 5, 2018.

During the two-week trial, Baldeh said she never knew what she hit that morning, believing it could have been something that fell off a truck travelling in front of her.

The court heard Adamek, who was 27 then, was walking along Wilson Road around 5 a.m. after a night out with friends. He was about 2.5 kilometres from home when Baldeh's car struck him and drove off.

His body was found about an hour later in a farmer's field by a passerby.

The Crown accused the Newmarket woman of panicking and fleeing the scene.

A forensic expert testified Adamek likely died quickly. "Within minutes, if not less," stated Dr. Anita Lai, describing how an autopsy revealed his death was caused by multiple blunt force trauma.

Justice Jonathan Dawe said Baldeh's actions were "morally reprehensible and legally culpable" for not stopping to see what she had hit that morning but added that the accident that killed Adamek was not her fault.

Dawe said her only crime was failing to stop, adding she had a "grave moral lapse."

Baldeh's lawyer said his client wishes the crash had never happened and that she was ready to move forward with her life.

While the Crown pushed for a five-year sentence, ultimately, the judge handed her a 12-month conditional sentence, with the first nine months of house arrest, except for work and community service.

She was also banned from driving for two years despite the Crown arguing for a seven-year ban.

"All this rain is Dominik's crying right now, saying, 'People wake up, it's all wrong. It needs to be changed," concluded Adamek's father.