‘Coward’: Victim’s mom blasts driver who left teen cyclist permanently disabled

The Londoner convicted in a hit-and-run crash that left a teenage cyclist with a life-altering brain injury maintained his innocence at a sentencing hearing on Tuesday as his victim’s mother blasted him as “a coward.”

Article content

In a statement read into court by his lawyer, Jesse Bleck, 29, also expressed remorse – Tristan Roby’s mother, Abby Roby, called that a “slap in the face” – over the July 2021 collision that left Tristan, then 17, permanently disabled .

“Although I maintain my innocence, I’m sorry for the impact that this has had on (the Roby family) and that it will continue to have on Tristan for the rest of his life,” Brian Eberdt, Bleck’s lawyer, read out in short Tuesday.

For Abby Roby, the apology meant nothing. She called Bleck a “coward” following Tuesday’s sentencing hearing.

“For him, after five years and Tristan being in the state that he’s in, to say that he’s sorry that his life has been altered, but that he’s innocent, that was a slap in the face to Tristan,” she said. “If he was truly sorry, he would have at least stood up and looked at Tristan and said, ‘I’m sorry, man.’ Something, anything. He’s not sorry. He doesn’t care.”

Article content

The letter of apology ended what was the final day for submissions before Superior Court Justice Kelly Tranquilli decided the fate of Bleck on June 18.

Bleck, who is now on lease, was convicted by a jury last year of failing to remain at a crash and driving while prohibited after Tristan, now 22, was struck by a Nissan Altima driven by Bleck while cycling with a friend along Exeter Road in south London on July 21, 2019.

During the trial, as he did Tuesday, Bleck maintained he wasn’t behind the wheel when the crash happened.

Tristan is “semi-palliative now,” his mother said on Tuesday. In the crash, he suffered a traumatic shearing of his brain, broken jaw, collapsed lung, torn liver, spleen injury, compound fracture of his left leg, damage to his left arm, and many scrapes and bruises.

Article content

Since the crash, Tristan has been wheelchair-bound, now has seizures and Parkinson’s-like symptoms, can’t feed himself and requires round-the-clock care.

“It doesn’t matter what’s going to happen, it’s not going to be equivalent to the state that Tristan is in,” Abby Roby said of the looming sentencing. “I hope that he’s still here (by June 18, the sentencing date). I think he’s just holding on for this trial, so hopefully they don’t keep putting it off and, at least, give him the dignity of hearing the sentence.”

The judge has two very different options.

Bleck’s lawyer is seeking a conditional sentence of 18 to 24 months served in the community, on top of the nine months he spent in pre-verdict custody. The sentence could be reduced based on any credits the judge may deem appropriate given the conditions Bleck underwent while held at the Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre. Eberdt is also asking for two to three years of probation and a five-year driving ban.

Article content

By contrast, Assistant Crown attorney Antem Orlov, represented Tuesday by Assistant Crown attorney Adam Campbell, has asked for a five-year prison term, one of the longest yet for failing to remain at a crash.

Eberdt noted his client was never charged with the more serious offense of dangerous driving and there’s no evidence leaving the scene was a “significant aggravation” of Roby’s injuries.

Campbell said the Crown doesn’t have to prove what could’ve happened had Bleck not fled the scene. “The Crown doesn’t need to prove a potential. You can see the potential, you can see the reality of what he did.”

While Eberdt argued Bleck, a father of two children, ages eight and 12, has the potential for rehabilitation, the Crown at a February hearing portrayed him as someone with no regard for the law. His Highway Traffic Act record dates back to 2014 and there were yearly infractions until his license was suspended indefinitely in 2018.

Bleck, for instance, kept driving and breaching lease conditions after seriously injuring Roby, pleading guilty last year to breaches and driving in Brantford, the Crown has argued.

[email protected]

Article content