A sentencing hearing for a man who threw his girlfriend out of their vehicle and tried to run her over began Thursday in Guelph.
In January, 34-year-old Derek Carroll was driving down Highway 401 near Cambridge.
Without warning, he launched into what Crown prosecutor Stephanie Turner termed a “brutal, terrorizing and horrific attempted murder.”
He grabbed his 19-year-old girlfriend, who was also in the car, and slammed her head against the dashboard several times.
He then stabbed her in the face with a railway spike – about 20 times – and tried to gouge her eyes out and choke her, before throwing her out of the vehicle and twice attempting to run her over.
In a victim impact statement read in court Thursday, the 19-year-old said she no longer trusts anyone, and constantly wonders if she’ll be subjected to a similar attack from another person.
Carroll, who pleaded guilty to attempted murder earlier this year, stood up in court Thursday and apologized to the woman.
“I’m sorry for all the suffering I’ve caused you and your family,” he said.
“Nothing you did or said caused this.”
The Montreal resident will be sentenced in January, with the Crown seeking 10 to 12 years and defence lawyers asking for seven to nine years in prison.
