An Inconsequential Penalty for Criminal Negligence

"I was a happy person. A happy kid. I played volleyball. I liked to hang out with friends. Ride my bike. Anything and everything a normal kid would do. My goal was to start up a babysitting business."

"Then February 13, 2022, happened. I was hit by a car -- your car. You hit me, backed up to see what you hit, then drove off. You lied to the police when they asked about your involvement. You said you'd sold your car the day before."

"All this while I was lying in a hospital bed for weeks and weeks, crying in pain. We begged you to come forward and take responsibility for what you did. But you didn't."

"I get that you are young and afraid, but I was much younger and more afraid." 

"I want you to look into my eyes and know that you are guilty. I actually want you to live a very long life knowing that you're guilty. You should be ashamed of yourself."

Serene Summers, 14, hit-and-run victim, Ottawa, Ontario

Serene Summers, seen here with her mother, Anita Armstrong, still had her right leg in a brace as she used her victim's impact statement in court on Friday to describe the toll from her injuries. Photo by Jean Levac /Postmedia

"We were hoping for something different. We had some hope that the sentencing would be a little bit higher, especially hearing that he's admitted to driving the vehicle."

"It's confusing."

Anita Armstrong, mother of Serene Summers

"Why are you smirking?"

"She has injuries that will potentially last the rest of her life. You're here to [be] give[n] a fine. The difference is quite different."

"I hope you listened to her. She's upset. Rightly upset. Fates crossed at that moment, but there are consequences for life for her."

Justice of the Peace Louis Dibblee, Provincial Offences Court, Ottawa

Serene Summers, 13,  in critical condition after a hit-and-run. Photo by Supplied /Family photo

February 13, 2022, Super Bowl Sunday, Serene Summers and her girlfriend Eva Salinas had taken a bus to the Merivale Mall Dollar Store. They returned by bus, crossed Meadowlands Drive close to where their homes were on Orkney Private. A young man by the name of Mahmoud Ghanam happened to be driving west with a passenger "at a high rate of speed", striking Serene "causing her to fly in the air and land on the roadway".

Mahmoud Ghanam Photo:Jean Levac/Postmedia

In an effort to identify the driver, friends and supporters placed posters with images of the black, two-door Honda Civic all around the area. The image had been captured by a nearby security camera. Eventually the driver contacted police himself, denying he had been driving the car, claiming to have sold it earlier that very day of the accident. 

It took six weeks following the injury that the young girl sustained before she was cleared to leave hospital, with plans to attend a concert along with her friend Eva. Her memory of being struck and critically injured, that the driver after hitting her reversed, looked back, and then sped off will remain with her forever. 

Serene was 13 when she was so dreadfully injured. Now, a year later, at 14, she has been left with a permanent brain injury. When first taken to hospital she was kept in a medically induced coma for several days. After that she was able only to communicate with her family through American Sign Language, a skill she had been taught at school.

When Serene delivered her victim impact statement her right leg remained in a brace. She described her recurring dreams of dying. She spoke of the personality change that had come over her. That she had severed personal relationships. That school work became difficult to concentrate on. That she continues to experience chronic pain, albeit reduced in intensity from the severity of the months following her injuries.

Mahmoud Ghanam, now 23, stared ahead, turning on occasion to meet the young girls eyes. Justice of the Peace Dibblee admonished Ghanam: "Why are you smirking?" In the sentencing on charges of failing to remain at the scene of an accident, failing to render assistance, and failing to provide his information to police, a plea agreement led Ghanam to plead guilty.

Justice Dibblee had put off the hearing until Friday from its original schedule for the week before because Ghanam and his lawyer did not appear in court in person, but chose to watch via Zoom. A victim impact statement had greater effect when rendered and heard in person, said Justice Dibblee; he was "significantly offended" by the defence's physical absence from the court.

And the sentencing? A fine of $2,000 and loss of Ghanam's driver's licence for a period of a year. A rather underwhelming consequence for the commission of a grievous assault and the inexcusable reaction of heartlessly leaving the scene of the accident he was directly responsible for, permanently altering the life and prospects of a young girl whom he could have left for dead, for all he cared. Ashamed of himself? Not likely!

Inexplicably Serendipitous

"Originally, we were told she'd be in an induced coma for three days. Then they said they needed a few more days, then a few days more. Now they've started to wean her off [sedation] so they can see if she's stable enough that she can start to wake up."

"Every day she shows a little bit more progress. We're at the risky point right now when they're going to have to start waking her up because the longer they keep her under, the more chance there is that it could cause more damage."

"It was incredible [the realization that Serene Summers was attempting,through her coma, to communicate]. Initially she started signing 'T-H-R-O-' and we said, 'Throat?' and she gave us the thumbs-up. We started asking questions and said if she was able to answer them she should squeeze our hand."{

"I asked if she was in pain and she squeezed my hand. I said, 'Serene, do you understand what's going on?' and she signed 'Why?' and started pointing to the tubes and the bed. There's delirium too because she's under heavy medication and she gets scared and confused."

"She's not really awake. Every now and then she'll start moving around and start panicking. She can't speak. Can't make any noise. But my mom's been really good about being at her bedside and coaching her and trying to calm her down."

"My mom asks questions that require a hand squeeze. It's not a lot, but the progress she's making is amazing."

Matthew Boutros, Ottawa, brother of Serene Summers

Serene Summers, 13, is in critical condition after a hit-and-run. Photo by Supplied /Family photo

On February 13, a Sunday afternoon, thirteen-year-old Serene Summers and a friend had gone along to an area store to buy some Valentine's Day cards they meant to hand out to their classmates at Merivale High School in Ottawa. As the girls prepared to cross a street, a westbound Honda Civic, driven by an unknown person, struck the young girl, and failed to stop, leaving Serene critically injured.

At the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario, Serene underwent emergency surgery that same evening. She had been placed into a coma to limit damage, as her brain had continued swelling and bleeding. That swelling went on for five days. In that medically induced coma, on a ventilator, ten days following having been struck by a hit-and-run driver, a nurse tending to Serene noticed something peculiar.

The young girl was unable to communicate verbally, no sound emitted from her; she was, after all, still in that medically-induced coma. What drew the nurse's attention, however was the girl's right hand, signalling 'Pain', and then signing, 'Why?'. Serena, years earlier had been taught, for no particular reason,  how to sign the alphabet, by her mother, Anita Armstrong.

What had once been a casual diversion in learning something new and different long ago, suddenly became a miraculous mode of communication when normal communication was not possible. Serene was sufficiently intrigued and invested in sign language that she undertook on her own initiative to expand her vocabulary. As she did she taught herself many other gestures and signs of American Sign Language.

Her brother Matthew, 25, speaks of his young sister with her two brothers and three older half-siblings as tough and athletic. That she aspires in the future to become a pediatric surgeon. "She's an extremely ambitious little girl. She's also very tough. Very strong, very sporty. She's not a dainty little fragile thing. She had two older brothers so she's into rough-housing with us", he explained.

The Ottawa Police Service is actively searching for the driver of the vehicle that struck Serene. Blurry images of the vehicle were released this week, images of a black, two-door Honda Civic coupe, model  year 2006-11. Possibly with front-end damage, conceivably, windshield damage as well.

"It's kind of uncertain what type of therapy and rehabilitation she's going to need. But the doctors and surgeons have said she could be in hospital for months."

"We really don't know the extent of her brain injury, but the doctors have said she's going to require quite a lot of rehabilitation."

"It's still quite early. She's not able to speak and we're not able to see what's going on in her brain until she's awake. Then we can figure out what's going to happen."

Matthew Boutros

Serene Summers and her brother, Matthew Boutros. Serene, 13, was struck by a hit-and-run driver on Meadowlands Drive on Feb. 13. Photo by Photo supplied /Photo supplied