Crown prosecutors say a British Columbia man who fled the scene of a deadly hit-and-run three years ago should spend time behind bars for violating the conditions of his detention. house arrest penalty for the accident.

Marcel Genaille pleaded guilty last year to leaving the scene of a June 2021 collision that claimed the life of 59-year-old James “Mark” Peters.

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Earlier this year he was given an 18-month suspended prison sentence, including eight months of house arrest. Conditions of the sentence included an exemption allowing him to leave his home to work and attend medical appointments.

Genaille admitted breaching two terms of his suspended sentence order (CSO).

On Wednesday, the Crown told Judge Andrea Brownstone in Vancouver Provincial Court that police found Genaille in the driver’s seat of a vehicle in Surrey on September 27. Genaille was a banned driver at the time and had not had car insurance since February.

“He’s unbelievable,” Crown prosecutor Mark Myhre told the court.

Myhre said police spotted Genaille at a Surrey gas station at 10:45 p.m., more than four hours after his curfew and a mile from his home.

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He then left the gas station and headed east on 108th Avenue and south on 152nd Street, away from his Surrey address, Myhre said.

The court also heard from Genaille’s probation officer, Jill Beamish, who repeatedly recounted how he was late to check in with her.

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“Mr. Genaille seemed tired of being bound by legal conditions,” she testified.

Bemish told the court Genaille moved into a new unit in Surrey at the end of August and never told her he was struggling with homelessness.

Genaille testified that he was evicted from an apartment in August and had difficulty finding housing that would accept his pets.

He said he finally found accommodation at the end of September, but was without a fixed address until then.

“I was jumping around and sleeping in my car,” he told the court.

“Maybe I was negligent,” he testified when speaking to his probation officer about his housing search in August.

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The Crown argued the conditional sentence order should be set aside and Genaille should spend 15 months in prison.

Myhre said Genaille misled his probation officer by not saying where he lived between late August and September and showed a “cavalier attitude” to sentencing that spared him a sentence of prison.

Genialle’s lawyer, Tony Lagemaat, argued that if the suspended sentence was upheld, Genaille could be electronically monitored.

“I was negligent…I take responsibility,” Genaille told the court, adding that he was “sorry for the choices I made that brought me here.”

He added that if he were reinstated to the CSO, “I won’t screw it up” and that “I’ll be where I’m supposed to be at all times.”

Judge Brownstone reserved her decision in this case.

At the initial sentencing hearing for the hit-and-run, the court heard that Genaille hit Peters’ motorcycle at a red light, throwing the victim 17 meters.

Genaille fled, leaving his bumper and license plate behind, before finally abandoning the vehicle.

Court heard Genaille initially went to the Burnaby RCMP detachment after the collision but denied any involvement. Instead, he claimed he was in his recovery house that night.

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