Hit-and-run driver who left teen with life-altering injuries sentenced to 4.5 years in prison
CBC
The man convicted of hitting a London teenager with his car in 2019 and fleeing the scene of the crash has been sentenced to four and a half years in prison for what the sentencing judge called his "cruel and cowardly" crimes.
Jesse Bleck was convicted in August of failing to remain at the scene of an accident causing bodily harm, and driving while prohibited in the July 21, 2019 collision, which left Tristan Roby, then 17 years old, with life-altering injuries, including traumatic brain damage.
In delivering her sentence on Tuesday, Superior Court Justice Kelly Tranquilli pointed to Bleck's history of court-ordered probation and his "cruel and cowardly" act of leaving Roby to die by the side of the road that night.
"This has left Tristan Roby with extensive and catastrophic injuries that have change his life and that of his family," said Tranquilli. Roby had planned to study entomology at Lakehead University, but will now require constant care for the rest of his life.
Tranquilli's sentence includes a 10-year driving ban for Bleck.
Roby, who was in the courtroom with his mother Abby for the sentencing, had been riding his bike with a friend along Exeter Road the night he was struck.
The impact of the crash threw Roby more than 10 metres, and left him with injuries including a shearing of the brain, a broken jaw, a collapsed lung, and a compound left leg fracture, according to his mother. The injuries left Roby in a wheelchair, and have led to seizures and a "Parkinson-like" disorder.
Bleck was arrested and charged six months after the crash and was found guilty on August 16, 2023, by a jury which rejected the defence argument that he wasn't the one driving.
The sentence delivered Tuesday is just shy of the five years in prison the Crown requested. With credit for the time he has already spent in jail, Bleck will serve three years and nine months in prison.
Justice Tranquilli said Bleck's severe sentence is justified because of the devastation his actions caused Tristan Roby and his family.
Tranquilli also said the sentence is intended to deter other drivers who might consider fleeing the scene of a collision instead of remaining to help the victim and assist the investigation.
"Drivers should gain nothing for leaving the scene but the condemnation of society," said Tranquilli.
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