CHARLOTTETOWN – The Prince Edward Island Court of Appeal has been asked to reduce the sentence imposed in the case of a 19-year-old St. Peters Bay man earlier this year for leaving the scene of an accident.
Zachary Evans-Renaud, a second-year defenceman with the Truro Bearcats of the Maritime Hockey League, had been sentenced in January to four months in the P.E.I. correctional centre for striking and seriously injuring a pedestrian with his car near UPEI and leaving him on the side of the road to fend for himself.
In court Friday, Mitchell MacLeod, Evans-Renaud's defence counsel, asked the court to reduce that sentence to less than 90 days in jail so that his client could serve it on an intermittent basis.
That's so Evans-Renaud can continue his course at the Dalhousie Agricultural Campus in Bible Hill.
He also asked for the reduction so he could continue to play Junior A hockey for the Bearcats.
Evans-Renaud would like to be available to play for the Fred Page Cup, the Eastern Canadian Junior A Championship, which the Bearcats will host next year.
That representation prompted Chief Justice David Jenkins to remark that Evans-Renaud could be sentenced to eight months in jail and still be out in time to play in that tournament.
Asked what sentence he would like the court to impose in this case MacLeod proposed that Evans-Renaud be sentenced to a short, sharp period in custody, something less than 90 days.
Evans-Renaud has played in all three games for the 3-0-0 Bearcats this season, earning one assist. In 2011-12, he collected four goals and 17 assists in 36 games.
He was the first overall pick in the 2009 MHL draft by the Restigouche (now Campbellton) Tigers.
