A 35-year-old man has been sentenced to five years in prison for a 2019 hit-and-run that ended in life-altering injuries for two police dog handlers.
Jason Kirupakaran was in Vancouver provincial court Thursday (Nov. 7) for sentencing.
He was found guilty in January of two counts of criminal negligence causing bodily harm and two counts of failing to stop at an accident causing bodily harm.
The charges relate to a horrific crash in Burnaby's Big Bend area on March 4, 2019.
A police officer had approached Kirupakaran's Toyota Camry on foot that morning after a 911 call about a reckless driver on Marine Way, but the Camry took off.
Witnesses then observed the vehicle driving recklessly in South Burnaby where it plowed into Abbotsford Police Department Cpl. Aaron Courtney and RCMP Cpl. Matteo Perizzolo, both members of the Lower Mainland Integrated Police Dog Service, who were standing by their vehicles in the 5000 block of North Fraser Way just before noon and getting ready to unload their dogs for training in the area.
Kirupakaran didn't slow down, according to witnesses, and later ditched his vehicle and reported it stolen.
Kirupakaran denied having been the driver, but there was video evidence of a man leaving the Camry where it was abandoned, and Kirupakaran's sister identified that man to police as her brother, according to information presented in court.
At a sentencing hearing in October, Crown prosecutor Mark Myhre called for a seven-year prison sentence and a 10-year driving ban.
Kirupakaran's lawyer, Dale Melville, said his client should serve a two-year sentence in the community with house arrest followed by three years of probation.
On Thursday, however, B.C. provincial court Judge Andrea Brownstone said a conditional sentence was "clearly" not proportionate in the case.
She sentenced Kirupakaran to a total of five years in prison and a seven-year driving ban, saying his crimes "forever changed" the lives of his victims.
"The officers have suffered life-changing injuries with symptoms that persist to today, some five-and-a-half years later," Brownstone said. "In addition, there is the impact on the family, the police community and the community at large – and the impact is significant."
Brownstone noted Kirupakaran was driving away from a police officer at the time of the crash and driving recklessly in a busy area that included a construction zone on a Monday morning while there were a lot of people on the road.
Kirupakaran's driving record, which included 51 driving violations and numerous previous driving bans, was also "very aggravating," and reflected an "indifference to the rules of the road and to the other people on the road," according to Brownstone.
One significant mitigating factor, according to Brownstone, is that Kirupakaran has taken "significant rehabilitative steps" in the last year after a court-ordered stay at a drug recovery centre.
He also has community and family support, Brownstone said.
Melville had argued Kirupakaran's difficult childhood, which reportedly included abuse at the hands of an alcoholic father, should also be considered mitigating, but Brownstone said there was nothing in Kirupakaran's case to indicate how his "self-reported difficult childhood might have impacted his moral culpability" in the hit-and-run.
In her ruling, Brownstone noted Kirupakaran – when he addressed the court at his October sentencing hearing – had not expressed remorse nor acknowledged the harm he had caused.
Kirupakaran will get 80 days of enhanced credit for 53 days he spent in pretrial custody.
And his seven-year driving ban, which will start when he gets out of prison, will be reduced by two-and-a-half years for the time he was under a ban before his trial.
Brownstone also ordered Kirupakaran to pay a $400 victim fine surcharge within eight months of his release and to provided a sample of his DNA while he is in prison.
Burnaby RCMP commented on the sentence Thursday afternoon.
"Our thoughts remain with the two injured officers and their loved ones, as their lives have been forever changed,” said Chief Supt. Graham de la Gorgendiere, the head of the detachment. "This was an extremely difficult and complex investigation, with many teams and police officers methodically working towards this result."
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