VICTORIA -- The woman charged in a 2017 crash that left a young girl with severe brain damage was driving in excess of 100 km/h in a 50 km/h zone moments before her SUV struck the 11-year-old in a Saanich crosswalk, according to testimony Wednesday from a video analysis expert.
Tenessa Nikirk has pleaded not guilty to one count of dangerous driving causing bodily harm in the Dec. 20, 2017 collision at Ash Road and Torquay Drive.
Leila Bui, now 12, suffered what the Crown described in court as "catastrophic injuries," including a permanent brain injury, broken neck and ruptured spleen. She was in the hospital for months following the crash, spending some of that time in a medically induced coma.
Witnesses have testified that Nikirk was speeding and texting, her black SUV passing other vehicles on a solid yellow line.
Adam Cybanski corroborated some of that evidence Wednesday. He's a video analysis expert hired by the Saanich police in 2018 to examine four videos from the scene and determine the SUV's approximate speed as it travelled east on Ash Road.
Two of the videos are from forward- and rear-facing dash cameras from a car headed in the same direction. Another two are from forward- and side-facing cameras mounted on a transit bus heading in the opposite direction.
Cybanski told the Victoria courtroom that one of the videos shows the black SUV had crossed the solid yellow line to pass a white vehicle, then accelerated to 90 km/h as it passed the camera vehicle.
The next video shows the SUV reaching 95 km/h when it enters the frame, accelerating to more than 100 km/h on Ash Road, Cybanski said.
Video from the transit bus shows the SUV travelling between 80 km/h and 84 km/h, Cybanski testified, adding that his estimates likely have a margin of error of 5 km/h.
The video evidence also indicates the back of Nikirk's vehicle came to a stop 18 to 20 metres beyond where it struck the girl, the Crown witness said.
The Crown will call two Saanich police officers as its final witnesses in the trial Thursday.
