Impaired driver sentenced in connection with 2018 Greater Toronto Area crime spree

Madam Justice Diane Oleskiw agreed with the joint submission for sentencing proposed by the crown and defence: after credit for pre-trial custody, Martin Hines has only seven years and 11 months left to serve.

It was June 29, 2018, when Hines got behind the wheel of his 2013 Mercedes sedan after allegedly smoking marijuana and ingesting cocaine.

According to an agreed statement of facts read in court in late February, Hines, who was driving at roughly 150 km/h, rear-ended a Mazda MX-5 driven by Eddie Alquinto at the corner of Steeles Avenue West and McLaughlin Road in Brampton.

Alquinto, a 60-year-old married father of two girls, aged five and 10, was killed instantly. Alquinto’s wife Maria Grethel Dela Vega was also critically injured.

Hines then stole an idling Honda Accord belonging to a bystander who had gotten out to help and drove eastbound along Steeles Avenue towards Toronto. At the intersection of Steeles and Kipling Avenue, while driving approximately 200 km/h, Hines caused a chain-reaction collision. Debris from one of the vehicles involved struck 19-year-old Zohaib Jailani, who was standing at the corner of the intersection.

Jailani was rushed to hospital but would later die.

Hines then approached a woman sitting in a nearby vehicle and punched her before stealing her car. He then continued driving eastbound before crashing that stolen vehicle at the corner of Old Weston Road and Steeles Avenue. Hines then tried to steal a TTC bus, but could not get the bus into drive and was arrested by Toronto police.

When Hines was admitted to hospital after his arrest, his blood contained 0.2 mg/ml of blood of a byproduct of cocaine and 7.7 ng/ml of blood. A forensic psychiatrist who wrote a report about the offence says it’s likely Hines was in a state of cocaine intoxication with psychotic features.

Justice Oleskiw said Hines drove for an extended period of time in an egregious way, causing three separate collisions and never checking if others were okay. He stole a vehicle of someone who tried to help and robbed another vehicle after punching someone in the face.

Hines, wearing a black jacket and white dress shirt, sat handcuffed in the witness box and addressed the families of the victims.

“Not a day goes by I don’t think about all the lives I’ve changed and ruined,” he said. “I’m sorry, I became a different person that night. There are no words for the regret I feel.”

Eddie Alquinto’s widow, Maria Grethel Dela Vega, wept aloud. As she left court after sentencing, she said, “We’re still grieving at this time. It’s very painful and tragic.”

Zohaib Jailani’s father, Naveed Jailani, says he’s upset with the sentence. “I’m angry at the Court of Justice. I don’t have anger against him (Hines). He did whatever he can but the justice system they should have done more.”

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