A taxi driver who struck and killed a skateboarder in downtown Toronto in 2012 has been sentenced to four years in prison.
Adib Ibrahim was sentenced in a Toronto courtroom on Friday morning.
Last October, Ibrahim was found guilty of manslaughter in the death of 28-year-old Ralph Bissonnette, who was struck and killed by Ibrahim’s taxi near King and George streets in May, 2012.
Security camera footage recorded the incident, showing Bissonnette riding his skateboard alongside Ibrahim’s taxi cab. The car then veers to the right, knocking the skateboarder over. Paramedics said Bissonnette suffered serious head injuries in the crash. He was pronounced dead in hospital.
Ibrahim had long maintained that the collision was an accident, but the Crown alleged that the taxi driver, in a case of road rage, deliberately veered his cab into Bissonnette.
Ibrahim’s defence lawyer Peter Thorning said Friday that he is very upset by the sentence. He also said that his client will be appealing both the conviction and the sentence.
“I think the 90-day sentence that I suggested … was the right thing to do in this case,” Thorning told reporters. “I’m disappointed.”
