Hit-and-run drunk driver gets prison
VANCOUVER — A drunk driver who collided with and seriously injured an elderly Squamish woman before fleeing the scene has been sentenced to six months in prison.
Jan Marthinus, 55, of Pemberton, also received a six-month conditional sentence to run consecutively with the jail term, a year of probation and a five-year driving ban in connection with the December 2013 accident that injured Katherine Ciechanowski.
Marthinus pleaded guilty to one count of impaired driving causing bodily harm and one count of hit and run.
In imposing sentence, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Kelleher called it a “senseless” crime and cited a number of aggravating factors, including the dangerousness of the offender’s driving.
“He was proceeding in an unsafe speed in a reckless manner on a busy highway. He came close to striking far more people than Ms. Ciechanowski.”
During a break Monday, after the judge had finished reading his judgment and was awaiting submissions from the lawyers on the conditions for the conditional sentence, Marthinus fainted and collapsed on the floor. Sheriffs brought in oxygen to treat him and summoned paramedics.
The sentencing proceeded to its conclusion after Marthinus was revived and he was escorted away by sheriffs to serve his jail term.
His sentencing hearing was adjourned briefly on one previous occasion and resumed after he fainted outside court during a break and was treated in hospital. Court heard that he occasionally experiences a physiological phenomenon known as vasovagal syncope, where a person faints because the body overreacts to certain triggers, including emotional distress.
Outside court, Ciechanowski, an active and well-liked member of the community who has suffered long-term pain from the accident, said she was improving but will never fully regain her strength.
“I wish he hadn’t hit me. He took a lot out of me. I feel sorry for him, I really do. I don’t want to ruin a man’s life, but it’s all his fault.”
She said she hoped that Marthinus, who has no prior criminal record, can be rehabilitated and never again commits such a crime.
According to a statement of facts filed in court, before the collision Marthinus was seen driving erratically, forcing several vehicles on to the shoulder of High- way 99 in slushy conditions.
When he entered Squamish, he clipped one vehicle, narrowly missed hitting a pedestrian and then missed a second vehicle by a foot. Then he drove up on to the sidewalk where Ciechanowski was standing.
She had started to run, but was hit in the middle of her back by the hood of the SUV and went up on to the hood. The vehicle travelled another four to five metres before stopping suddenly, and Ciechanowski fell forward off the hood and landed in a ball on the ground, striking her head.