A Surrey man who wielded a gun while being pursued by police near downtown Prince George was sentenced Tuesday to a conditional sentence order followed by a term of probation.
The actions of Zakaria Benjamin Athaya, 23, prompted pursuing Prince George RCMP members to fire off five rounds during the Aug. 22, 2022 incident in the vicinity of Fifth Avenue and Winnipeg Street. The bullets hit a home, but nobody was hurt.
Athaya was one of three people inside a sport utility vehicle RCMP had tried to pull over near 10th and Carney only to see it take off. It was involved in collisions with two RCMP vehicles before it came to rest on a sidewalk along 4th Avenue near Winnipeg Street. All three occupants took off in separate directions.
An off-duty RCMP officer happened to be out for a run when he saw Athaya running and sweating profusely.
When the off-duty officer saw him reach towards his waistband, he yelled that he was a cop and told Athaya he was under arrest. He continued his pursuit until two armed plainclothed officers caught up and saw a black pistol in Athaya's hand.
Athaya ran across the street and turned around. RCMP warned that he was going to be fired upon and pulled their triggers. The bullets struck a house. No one was injured but it left the family inside the home startled, the court heard.
Athaya threw the pistol into some nearby grass, jumped over a short fence where he immediately went prone to the ground and was arrested.
He had remained on "very restrictive" bail conditions that have included electronic monitoring since his arrest and eventually pleaded guilty to occupying a vehicle knowing a firearm present. Counts of possessing a restricted or prohibited firearm and wilfully resisting arrest were stayed.
In all, he was sentenced to a conditional sentence order of two years less a day followed by three years probation. Terms of the CSO include that he remain at home from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m., wear an electronic monitor and come no closer than 25 kilometres of Prince George. He was also issued a 10-year firearms prohibition.
The sentence came in the form of a joint submission from defence and Crown counsels.
Athaya has the support of a "very hard-working family" and continues to work in a restaurant. Putting him in jail could be counterproductive, the court was told, by exposing him to the type of people he had been ordered to stay away from.
"The idea is to keep him working, keep him monitored for a long period of time and hopefully then we can have Mr. Athaya continue on the path he's been on and be a positive member of society and working hard," the court was told.
Co-accused Dilmeet Singh Chahal faces sentencing later this month. The third person was not charged.
