House arrest for killer trucker
A former trucker who was convicted of dangerous driving causing death in connection with a crash that killed a young mother nearly four years ago on Highway 3 near Hedley was ordered Monday to serve his jail term at home.
Andreys Malyshev, 49, appeared in provincial court in Penticton and received a two-year conditional sentence, the first 14 months of which he’ll be under a 24-hour curfew except to work and attend appointments. The final 10 months will include a nightly curfew.
In addition, Malyshev – a Russia native who’s now a permanent resident of Canada – must complete 40 hours of community service, which the judge hopes will include speaking to other truck drivers about road safety.
The Crown had argued for a prison term in the range of three to five years, while defence counsel suggested house arrest.
Noting a lack of prior driving offences on the part of Malyshev, plus other collateral consequences, such as losing his marriage, home and driver’s licence, plus facing deportation to Russia, Judge Shannon Keyes opted for the conditional sentence.
“I am satisfied that Mr. Malyshev poses no danger to society and I find the objectives of denunciation and deterrence on the circumstances of this case can be met by a conditional sentence of sufficient length with onerous conditions,” said Keyes.
“Thanks to the dash cam video, I know that the poor driving which caused the crash carried on for approximately half an hour prior to the crash. Although it was bad driving, it was not deliberately egregious driving of the sort seen in street racing cases or excessive speed cases,” continued Keyes.
“Although he was driving faster than the recommended speed, he was not driving in excess of the posted speed.”
The victim of the crash was 27-yearold Alanna Dunn, a mother of two, who was on her way to work at Copper Mountain Mine near Princeton early on the morning of March 22, 2019.
She died when her car was crushed by the shipping container that Malyshev was hauling. The container, which was loaded with a bladder of wine, was on its way from Delta to Oliver.
Key evidence at last year’s two-day trial came from Malyshev’s own dash camera, footage from which covered approximately 70 kilometres leading up to the crash scene and ended as the truck tipped onto its side.
The video showed Malyshev’s truck crossing the centre line 27 times before the collision.