SURREY — A Surrey man found guilty of impaired driving causing death, dangerous driving causing death and leaving the scene of a crash claimed a mystery man had been the driver, not him.
Andrew Henry Ostrowski's friend, Sergio Martinez, was badly injured in the crash and died in hospital a few hours later.
Ostrowski claimed a third person — a pal of Martinez whom he didn't know — had been the driver, but Judge Peder Gulbransen didn't believe it.
Gulbransen found "many aspects" of Ostrowski's testimony "improbable and unbelievable."
He will be sentenced Sept. 5th, in Surrey provincial court.
"While his attempts at deception were clumsy, Ostrowski was clearly trying to divert suspicion from himself by fabricating false statements about what had happened to him," the judge decided. "I find that Mr. Ostrowski's testimony was not credible."
The crash happened Sept. 6th, 2011, when a Honda CRX southbound on 132nd Street in Surrey ran a red light at 88th Avenue and was t-boned by a Nissan SUV.
Twenty minutes later, police found Ostrowski a few blocks away, walking down a side street, intoxicated. He denied he was the driver, claiming he fled with the driver right after the crash.
Prosecutor Winston Sayson said the Crown "is grateful for the witnesses who remained at the scene to provide statements to the police and who later testified in court.
"As a result of their evidence, the lies of the accused — that there was a mystery driver who committed the offence — were rejected by the judge."
tzytaruk@thenownewspaper.com