MANDEL: Dangerous driver involved in deadly Scarborough street race remains in India

December 2021 street race on Lawrence Ave. involving call centre co-workers ended in the death of Lynda MacIver

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Published May 07, 2026  •  3 minute read

Lynda MacIver Ashburnham Funeral Home

When Japkirat Singh was convicted in a Toronto courtroom last week of dangerous street racing that caused the death of an innocent woman, he was thousands of miles away.

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According to his lawyer Charn Gill, Singh was still in India due to his father’s illness and wasn’t able to return to Canada because his work permit expired in June 2025 and his renewal application was rejected a few months ago.

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The question is why was he allowed to travel to India in the first place?

After two judgment days came and went last month without Singh in person, Superior Court Justice Sean Nishikawa went ahead with his decision on April 30. According to his ruling, it was shortly after midnight on Dec. 18, 2021, that Singh and co-worker Nazir Abdulqayoum finished their shift at the Pizza Nova call centre and were racing along Lawrence Ave. E.

A few minutes later, the decision said, Abdulqayoum’s white Toyota slammed into the blue Nissan being driven by Lynda MacIver, who was making a left turn onto Pharmacy Ave.

MacIver, 57, had no chance, according to the ruling. Abdulqayoum, travelling at more than 120 km/h in the 50 km/h-zone, never applied his brakes. MacIver died in a hospital from blunt-force trauma to her chest and abdomen. His passenger, Nishan Arampu, required nine surgeries and spent seven months in a hospital.

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Other person involved pleaded guilty

Two years later, Abdulqayoum pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death. His ruling doesn’t mention what sentence he received.

Singh went to trial, insisting he wasn’t racing with Abdulqayoum and it was just coincidence he was driving on the same stretch of Lawrence at the time. The decision said he didn’t dispute that his speed reached 109 km/h in his Ford Fusion, but testified he was on the phone with his mother in India and didn’t notice his speed. He also insisted he didn’t know his colleagues were the ones involved in the crash until he went to check on the occupants.

The judge found him hard to believe. “Based on my concerns about the credibility of Mr. Singh’s testimony, I do not rely on his evidence unless it is otherwise corroborated by other evidence,” the decision said.

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Nishikawa found he was driving dangerously by racing in a well-travelled stretch of Lawrence at twice the posted limit.

“Singh’s conduct endangered and created a risk of serious injury or death to the drivers and pedestrians present in the area that night,” he wrote.

“In my view, a reasonably prudent person would have foreseen the risk of a collision from driving over twice the speed limit while heading toward an intersection where the view from the oncoming traffic was limited because of a crest in the hill. A reasonably prudent person would have foreseen the risk of not being visible to a left-turning vehicle and taken steps to avoid it, including driving at or near the speed limit.”

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Unclear if Singh will return to Canada

The judge also noted Singh had only acquired his G2 licence six months before the crash.

“In the circumstances, Mr. Singh’s participation in the race with Mr. Abdulqayoum created a grave risk of death or injury to other users of the road because of the high speed at which they were driving. A reasonable person in Mr. Singh’s position would recognize the foreseeable risk of immediate and substantial harm that driving in the manner that he did posed to not only himself, but to other drivers and to innocent third parties.

“Mr. Singh’s driving was therefore a significant contributing cause of Ms. MacIver’s death and the serious bodily harm suffered by Mr. Arampu.”

But will he return to face Canadian justice?

His lawyer didn’t respond to a request for a comment. On April 21, after Singh appeared virtually from India rather than in person, Nishikawa issued a bench warrant for Singh’s arrest.

The matter returns to court in June.

[email protected]

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