Driver in fatal 2021 B.C. hit and run gets jail time after repeated release breaches
A B.C. hit-and-run driver who repeatedly violated his release conditions will serve the remaining eight months of his sentence behind bars.
Marcel Genaille pleaded guilty in 2023 to leaving the scene of a June 2021 collision that left a 59-year-old motorcyclist dead.
He was given an 18-month conditional sentence to be served in the community that included eight months of house arrest and a driving ban.
Last fall he escaped jail time after being caught driving an uninsured vehicle outside of his curfew period in September. At the time, the judge said he had shown a 'very careless attitude towards compliance' with his release conditions, but gave him another chance, noting he hadn't been engaged in any criminal activity at the time.
1:49
Fatal hit and run driver in court over breach of conditions
But on April 30 of this year, an RCMP officer conducting a curfew check discovered Genaille wasn't at home, the court heard.
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Genaille told the court he had been at Surrey Memorial Hospital after suffering chest pains and a shortness of breath, travelling by bus and on foot. He provided a photo of his hospital wristband, taken just after 11 p.m., and hospital records show he received blood tests and was diagnosed the next day with diabetes.
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But Judge Andrea Brownstone rejected Genaille's story about how he ended up in the hospital.
The court heard the RCMP officer conducting the curfew check had phoned him about 10:15. On the stand, Genaille claimed to be en route to the hospital at the time, but the officer's report stated both that he'd claimed to already be there, and that he hadn't checked in by 10:35 p.m.
It also heard he couldn't provide any evidence he was travelling to the hospital, such as bus tickets, and that his roommate had sent him texts letting him know police had come to their home.
'You were out somewhere at 10:15 p.m. Your roommate texted you. When police called, you told them you were at the hospital and got there as fast as you could,' Crown prosecutor Mark Myhre suggested.
2:10
Deadly hit-and-run driver admits to violating house arrest
Genaille denied the suggestion, saying he didn't see the texts until later.
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The court also heard from Genialle's probation officer, Poonam Dhaliwal, who testified a 'very worried' Genialle called her multiple times on May 1, claiming to have had a medical incident.
'Please don't breach me, please don't breach me … I was at Surrey Memorial Hospital,' she said he told her.
But she told the court he also provided conflicting statements, initially providing a 2023 Uber receipt before claiming he took transit to the hospital — a mode of travel he never uses.
2:21
Driver sentenced in fatal Burnaby motorcycle crash
In her decision, Brownstone said that while Genaille clearly did end up at the hospital, and was diagnosed with diabetes, she didn't accept the reasons he'd breached his curfew were because of a medical emergency.
'Mr. Genaille is simply not credible,' Brownstone said, noting that he had been untruthful with the curfew check officer about his whereabouts at the time of the call, and hadn't been forthcoming with his parole officer the next day.
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At his original sentencing hearing for the 2021 hit-and-run, the court heard that Genaille struck James 'Mark' 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.
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