A North Vancouver man received a nine-month jail sentence Friday for his role in the death of 31-year-old Steven Attermann, who was killed while crossing the street at a Lower Lonsdale crosswalk in March 2016.
Aldo Franco Trinetti, 51, was handed the sentence by Judge John Milne following a joint sentencing submission from Crown and defence lawyers in North Vancouver provincial court Friday afternoon.
Trinetti was on his way home from a pub in North Vancouver when he drove into Attermann in the marked crosswalk on Lonsdale Avenue at Fourth Street, just before midnight on March 31, 2016.
Paramedics performed CPR at the scene but Attermann later died in hospital.
In November, Trinetti pleaded guilty to refusing to provide a breath sample in an accident involving a fatality.
In handing down his sentence, Judge John Milne acknowledged the profound impact of Attermann’s death, particularly on his mother, who was not in court, but provided a victim impact statement.
“Her son is gone and her life is changed forever,” said Milne. “That void cannot be filled by anything the justice system has to offer.”
Attermann was returning home from a friend’s house that night when he was struck in the crosswalk by a vehicle driven by Trinetti, Crown counsel Andrew Cochrane told the judge.
Cochrane said Trinetti was on his way home from a pub that night. Trinetti stopped at a red light at Third Street, before accelerating through the light, before the light turned green. Moments later Trinetti hit Attermann in the crosswalk.
Cochrane said although Trinetti had been drinking that night, there was no evidence that alcohol was a factor in the fatal collision.
In response to questions from the judge, Cochrane said that Trinetti initially told police at the scene that he would be willing to provide a breathalyzer sample. But when he was taken back to the detachment, Trinetti refused to do so. “He changed his mind,” said Cochrane.
In her victim impact statement, Attermann’s mother Janice Attermann said her life will never be the same. She urged Trinetti to give up alcohol, saying that would “honour my son’s memory" as well as give Trinetti back his own life.
Trinetti has no criminal record, said Cochrane. Past Motor Vehicle Act infractions include driving while suspended and driving while using an electronic device.
Matthew Nathanson, Trinetti’s defence lawyer, told the judge Trinetti has not consumed any alcohol and has not driven a vehicle since the accident.
In a statement read to the court by his lawyer, Trinetti expressed his remorse.
“The memories follow me every day,” he wrote. “There are no words to describe the great sadness I carry with me knowing the accident I was involved in caused that.”
Letters of support for Trinetti described him as a “good man” who had been “shaken to the core” and forever changed by what happened.
Milne described the circumstances as tragic.
“Mr. Trinetti continues with his life. Mr. Attermann does not. I wish I could do more,” he said.
Milne handed Trinetti a two-year driving ban and one year of probation in addition to the jail sentence.
Originally Trinetti was charged with impaired driving causing death, dangerous driving causing death and refusing to give a breath sample.
But outside the court, Cochrane said “the evidence that was marshalled was insufficient to establish impaired driving or dangerous driving.”
He added there is no way to compel anyone to give police a breath sample.
If Trinetti had been convicted of impaired driving causing death, he would likely have received a stiffer jail sentence.
Outside the court, Nathanson echoed the judge's words describing the incident as an “absolute tragedy. That is something the defence has acknowledged from the beginning.”
