Driver released on bail after car accident left teenager in wheelchair

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It’s a new discovery Abby Robey said she won’t share with her vulnerable son.

Jesse Black is The crash killed the teenage cyclist Tristan Roby. Five years ago, he was injured in a car accident and suffered severe brain damage. He is currently out on bail.

“I wouldn’t tell him,” Abby Roby said of her son, 23. “I’m sure (Tristan) heard he was going to appeal. But I didn’t tell him he was out.

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Late last week, Black was granted bail pending his appeal in the Ontario Court of Appeal. He was appealing his conviction and sentence for failing to remain at the scene of a crash and for driving while prohibited in the crash on Exeter Road at 11 p.m. on June 21, 2019. He was released on Tuesday.

Blake, 31, what Found guilty by a jury a year ago He was sentenced to four and a half years in prison by Superior Court Judge Kelly Tranquilli last month after a five-week trial, a change of defence counsel and some procedural delays.

The appeal is likely to be heard for several months.

Tristan Roby was cycling with a friend to a creek near Lambeth for some night fishing to celebrate Tristan’s birthday when he was hit by a car.

He suffered multiple injuries, the most serious of which was brain damage, which left him confined to a wheelchair and dependent on the help of others for basic living.

His bike was dragged for nearly a kilometre to the car park of a motel on Exeter Road. Once there, Blake and one of his two passengers fled. He was not arrested until six months later.

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A point of contention during the trial was who was driving the car. A former Oneida police officer testified that he saw Black get out of the driver’s seat of the car. Evidence showed that Black owned the car and registered it in his cousin’s name, even though he had multiple convictions that prohibited him from driving it.

Blake’s ex-girlfriend gave police testimony that pinned the blame on Blake, while the passenger provided confusing, conflicting evidence in an attempt to deflect responsibility from Blake.

A jury found Black guilty, and during his sentencing hearing, Tranquilli heard Black was caught driving again in Brantford while on bail awaiting trial. His subsequent bail conditions included wearing an ankle monitor.

An ankle monitor was also part of his most recent strict bail conditions, which required two sureties.

At Black’s sentencing in June, Abby Robey said her son’s health had been unstable and deteriorating, but that he had recovered and stabilized.

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“He declined very quickly, and then (Blake) was finally sentenced and he was taken away in handcuffs, and it was like Tristan gained a little bit of wind,” she said. “The last thing I had to say was: ‘Oh, by the way, he’s out of jail again.’”

She said she also got some encouraging news: Brain researchers at the Roberts Institute interviewed and examined her son and told her that Tristan could hear, see and understand what people said.

“He can feel, he can hear, he can see, he can respond to verbal commands. He’s just trapped in his own body,” she said.

Abby Robey worries that the appeals process could undo all the progress.Since the verdict, they have felt a sense of relief.

“It’s nice to be out and about without having to worry about bumping into him,” she said.

jsims@postmedia.com

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