No jail time for fatal B.C. hit-and-run driver who violated house arrest, driving ban

A B.C. hit-and-run driver caught violating a driving ban and house arrest won’t be sent to jail.

Marcel Genaille, 38, pleaded guilty last year to leaving the scene of a June 2021 collision that left 59-year-old James ‘Mark’ Peters dead.

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He was handed an 18-month conditional sentence to be served in the community, which included eight months of house arrest and a ban on driving except for work.

But he later admitted to two breaches of his conditional sentence order (CSO) in September — after being caught in the driver’s seat of an uninsured vehicle four hours outside of his curfew hours.

He was wearing a Hawaiian shirt, had just gassed up, and was driving in the opposite direction of his home address 1.5 kilometres away.

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At a hearing in October, Genaille also admitted he gave his probation officer inaccurate information about where he was living in September.

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On Tuesday, B.C. Provincial Court Judge Andrea Brownstone said Genaille demonstrated a lack of understanding about the privilege he had been granted in serving his sentence in the community.

Brownstone found that Genaille had shown a “very careless attitude towards compliance” with his CSO.

But while he had breached the order, Brownstone found he had not been engaged in any criminal activity, and that she would give him another chance to adhere to the rules.

“This is a jail sentence being served in the community,” she said to Genaille. Further breaches will “likely lead to termination” of the conditional sentence, she added.

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Crown prosecutors had argued for Genaille’s CSO to be revoked and for him to finish the remainder of his sentence in jail, calling his behaviour “unbelievable.”

Genaille, who has been in custody since Sept. 27, was fired from his job on Oct. 8.

Because he is no longer employed, he’s now banned from being outside his home for any reason.

At his original sentencing hearing for the hit-and-run, the court heard that Genaille struck Peters’ motorbike at a red light in Burnaby, throwing the victim 17 metres.

Genaille fled the scene, leaving his bumper and licence plate behind, before eventually abandoning the vehicle.

The court heard that Genaille initially went to Burnaby RCMP after the collision, but denied involvement. Instead, he claimed he’d been at his recovery house that night.