Father badly injured in hit-and-run on dark road
Struck walking home on Quadra Island
Giles Roberts left the Halloween party at Quadra Island’s Heriot Bay Inn in good spirits early Sunday morning. Despite the fourkilometre distance and the stormy weather, the 38-year-old father decided to walk home. To make sure he was safe, his friend Beverly Wall gave him a head lamp to light his path down the dark stretch of road.
About 4:20 a.m., a motorist found Roberts lying in the middle of the 1100-block of Heriot Bay Road, severely injured. He had been struck by a car that fled the scene. Roberts was breathing but barely conscious.
The motorist called 911, summoning Quadra Island volunteer firefighters and B.C. Ambulance paramedics who worked to save Roberts’ life.
Quadra Island RCMP are appealing to the driver who hit Roberts to turn themselves in. Many people in the tight-knit community are searching for the vehicle that struck Roberts.
Cpl. Sean Bulford, who heads the Quadra Island RCMP detachment, said investigators are following up on leads and canvassing the neighbourhood for witnesses. Bulford believes Roberts was struck between 3:30 a.m. and 4:20 a.m.
Roberts was transported by Canadian Coast Guard vessel to North Island Hospital in Campbell River and then airlifted to Victoria General Hospital.
He is in critical condition in the intensive care unit.
Police have not been able to interview Roberts about what happened, Bulford said.
Roberts had dressed as a vampire for Halloween, so he was wearing dark clothes.
Given the time and the fact that there were several Halloween parties that carried on into the early morning hours Sunday, Bulford said it’s possible the driver was impaired. “Police are asking the person responsible to do the right thing and come forward,” he said. It’s an appeal echoed by Wall. “Please, whoever did this, turn yourself in,” she pleaded.
Wall said she saw Roberts leave the party with his girlfriend, but she doesn’t know how they got separated.
Roberts’ immediate family has visited him in hospital and is struggling with the news that he’s facing a long and difficult recovery, she said.
“They’re not doing very well. Nobody is,” Wall said.
Roberts, who works at Walcan Seafood, is a loving father to his teenage son and daughter and stepdaughter, Wall said.
Wall has known Roberts since he was four years old. He called her his “second mom,” she said.
Wall is collecting donations to cover medical expenses or rehabilitation costs and to support Roberts’ family. Donations can be made to the Giles Roberts Trust Fund through the Coastal Community Credit Union on Quadra Island and Campbell River, citing account number 798562.
Grocery stores on the island are donating a portion of their sales to his recovery fund.
Anyone with any information on the hit-and-run is asked to call Quadra Island RCMP at 250-285-3631 or report anonymously through Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).