A Quebec man charged with drunk driving and criminal negligence in a dramatic rollover crash that seriously injured a teenager in Burnaby in June 2020 has been handed a two-year jail sentence and two years of probation after pleading guilty to criminal negligence causing bodily harm.
Burnaby RCMP responded to a report of a single-vehicle rollover at Gilmore Avenue and Halifax Street at about 1 a.m. on June 5, 2020, according to a police news release at the time.
Upon arrival, officers found an unconscious 18-year-old woman outside a black Dodge Durango that had landed upside-down after hitting two hydro poles, a light standard and a traffic light, the release said.
The woman, who had been a passenger in the vehicle, was taken to hospital in serious but not life-threatening condition, according to police.
Police said the suspect driver had fled the scene, but officers located him nearby and arrested him.
Nearly a year later, in May 2021, Moussa Daoui was charged with failing to stop after an accident resulting in bodily harm, impaired driving causing bodily harm and criminal negligence causing bodily harm.
But Daoui skipped his first court appearance on June 22, 2021, and a Canada-wide warrant was eventually issued for his arrest, according to a Burnaby RCMP news release in February.
Police finally caught up with Daoui in Laval, Que. in January, and he was shipped back to B.C. on Jan. 27.
Last Monday, Daoui, 33, pleaded guilty to criminal negligence causing bodily harm in Vancouver provincial court and was sentenced to two years in jail, two years’ probation and a three-year driving prohibition.
The other charges against Daoui were stayed.
“Despite the suspect leaving the province, our Criminal Collision Investigation Team never gave up on ensuring the driver would face these charges in a B.C. courtroom,” Burnaby RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Mike Kalanj said in a news release about the court case Tuesday.
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