An Enderby man will remain guilty of a "driving rampage" through Prince George streets after a B.C. Supreme Court Justice dismissed an appeal of the verdict.
Dustin Daniel Heltman was sentenced in November 2017 to a further 257 days in jail followed by 18 months probation for a Nov. 14, 2015 incident that began when, while driving a van, he knocked a small utility trailer off a pickup truck near College of New Caledonia then sped off.
Heltman, who had been prohibited from driving at the time, wound his way to the VLA, blowing through red lights, reaching speeds of up to 100 km/h and driving up onto a sidewalk to avoid RCMP, smoke pouring out of his van.
In passing sentence at the time, provincial court judge Thomas Woods variously described Heltman's actions as a "driving rampage," an "episode of colossally-dangerous driving," a "consummate display of callous disregard for others" and "violent, out-of-control, highly dangerous conduct on his part that held the potential to cause calamitous consequences."
Heltman's appeal hinged on how Woods treated the accused's testimony and that of a witness Crown had called in response.
In a decision issued Tuesday, Justice Marguerite Church agreed with defence counsel that Woods erred in treating the witness's testimony as a direct rebuttal of Heltman's testimony but found it had no impact on his verdict.
Heltman was arrested after the fact and the matter was taken to trial largely over matters of identification and Heltman's claim he had an alibi. Woods found Heltman's story lacked credibility noting his memory "failed him utterly" when asked about what he was doing at the time of the incident.
Woods found him guilty of five offences, including dangerous driving, fleeing the scene of an accident and fleeing police.
