A Williams Lake man has been sentenced to 21 months in jail for hitting a bicycle-riding former neighbour with his vehicle, then leaving the scene.
Joseph Harvey Munden, 51, was also sentenced to two years probation and prohibited from driving for two years under the terms issued November 26 by Provincial Court Judge Peter Whyte.
According to the judge, Munden and the victim, Ephrahim Barnett, "knew each other, but were not on good terms. They had been neighbours in the past, but did not care for one another."
On May 8, 2019, Barnett was riding his bike on 4th Avenue North toward the intersection of Proctor Street in Williams Lake when Munden turned left off Proctor and onto 4th and accelerated directly at Barnett.
Munden struck Barnett, who was turning his bicycle toward the sidewalk on the right side of the road, causing him to tumble off of his bicycle, which was thrown into a parking lot adjacent to the sidewalk.
Following the collision, Munden drove onto the sidewalk on 4th Avenue, and narrowly missed a parked car before returning to the road and driving away, without stopping or even slowing down.
Much of the event was caught on dashboard camera from a vehicle parked nearby. Munden later told police he had tried to confront Barnett but did not stop to speak to him.
During a trial on the matter, Barnett said he suffered broken fingers; injuries to his hip, knees and ankle; a bruised back and road rash and suggested surgery was required to repair some of the injuries, although he provided no specifics. Pictures were tendered that supported Barnett's account of his injuries.
He also described feeling paranoid and afraid to ride his bicycle which damaged to the point of being inoperable.
"I conclude that the offences had a significant impact upon the victim, Mr. Barnett," the judge remarked.
Munden, in turn, described himself as the victim when given a chance to speak to the court during a hearing on sentencing and, in short, "displayed a shocking lack of insight, and an absence of remorse for the effect his behaviour had on the victim.
"Nor did he recognize the risk at which his conduct placed other members of the community. His focus was on himself, and how he had been affected by his own actions, without acknowledging those actions as being fundamentally wrong."
The sentence Whyte issued actually exceeded the three to six months Crown prosecution had been seeking, as he found the term suggested to be "inadequate to address the pressing need for denunciation and deterrence" and noting only one of the cases presented by Crown supported a sentence in the three-to-four-month range. The other cases established a range of one to 2 1/2 years.
Defence counsel had argued for four to 12 months of house arrest followed by a term of probation.
"I find Mr. Munden’s moral culpability to be high. The offences were grave. Mr. Munden is exclusively responsible for bringing about a series of dangerous events. His conduct was deliberate, cowardly, reprehensible and dangerous," Whyte said.
Munden was sentenced to 15 months in jail for dangerous driving causing bodily harm and to six months consecutive for failing to stop at the scene of an accident and assault with a weapon. Munden was also fined $2,000.
