A hit-and-run, a guilty plea and a family’s four-year wait for justice

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It’s been a long and agonizing wait for justice for the family of Chris Fox.

Fox was 33 when he was struck and killed by a van during an argument with the driver, Ian Joly, in a Circle K parking lot on Baseline Road on Sept. 15, 2020.

Joly, 38, was charged with dangerous driving causing Fox’s death and was set to face trial in September 2023. That date was pushed back to December, then delayed again until February.

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On the day his trial was scheduled to commence, Feb. 12, Joly pleaded guilty.

But that did not mark the end for the Fox family, who have underscored the difficult road victims and their families often face when traversing the criminal justice system.

“I’ve lost all faith in the justice system at this point because it’s giving all the rights to the (accused person) and catering to him while the victims have to wait and wait and things just keep getting extended,” said Amanda Ferguson, Fox’s younger sister.

Fox’s grieving family members filed into an Ottawa courtroom last week to deliver tearful victim impact statements.

Two hours later, the family stormed out of the courtroom in anger, frustration and disgust after the proceedings were halted by an abrupt adjournment and yet another lengthy delay.

“The last judge looked right at our family in February and said: ‘This has been going on far too long and it’s time this comes to an end.’ They set a date for April, that got pushed back to May, and now here we are in June with yet another adjournment,” Ferguson added.

Last week, Superior Court Justice Kerry McVey was set to hear submissions on an appropriate sentence for Joly, who is representing himself in the proceedings.

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Crown prosecutors Dallas Mack and Shakiba Azimi called for a sentence of two years less a day in a provincial jail, along with an order for Joly to submit a DNA sample. The Crown also asked the judge to impose a five-year driving ban and an order prohibiting Joly from communicating with the victim’s family.

Joly’s guilty plea, which did not come at an early opportunity in the proceedings, should be considered a neutral factor, the Crown argued, rather than a mitigating factor in sentencing.

Meanwhile, Azimi said Joly’s lack of remorse and “minimal acceptance of responsibility” for the fatal confrontation should be an aggravating factor in the judge’s sentencing decision.

The Crown argued Joly was acting “recklessly” when he struck Fox with his van, then ran over his body in the Circle K parking lot on Baseline Road and Navaho Drive.

But Joly objected to the Crown’s assertion he was acting recklessly that night, prompting several stifled shouts from Fox’s family, seated in the courtroom gallery.

And so Justice McVey said the court would schedule a separate hearing and hold a “trial within a trial,” this one to determine whether Joly was acting recklessly or not.

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Meanwhile, the judge instructed Joly that the court would appoint a defence lawyer to act as amicus — or “friend of the court” — to assist him with the legal complexities.

Fox’s family filed out of the courtroom before the judge had officially adjourned the hearing.

“I stood up and swore at (Joly) and walked out,” said Ferguson. “I’m frustrated. I just couldn’t sit there and listen to him anymore.

“It’s just been adjournment after adjournment and we’re all frustrated. We drive up from Brockville for every court date. We booked time off work for the trial, only to have the dates cancelled.

“It makes us feel like we don’t matter, like my brother’s life didn’t matter,” she said. “But not being able to move forward is the biggest and most frustrating factor.”

Ferguson delivered a similar message to the judge in an emotional victim impact statement she read into the court record last week.

Fox’s mother, Bonnie Massey, wrote in a victim impact statement that the family has been in “complete agony” and “unbearable grief” since the night Fox was killed.

“Chris had his whole life ahead of him and we were all robbed by this tragedy,” she wrote.

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“This has dragged on for almost four years… four years of not being able to move forward, of sitting in limbo… almost four wasted years. We put everything on hold to be here.

“This tragedy has already cost us a lifetime of pain, but we need this to be over so we can move forward and begin to heal.”

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Chirs Fox was known as the town “prankster” around Brockville, where he would regularly place teddy bears on streetlight poles and other visible spots on busy streets.

His friends made a makeshift memorial at Brockville’s cenotaph following his death and encouraged residents to place teddy bears there in tribute.

Known to his friends as “Swiper” — an affectionate childhood nickname he acquired from a character in the Dora the Explorer series — he would often be seen dancing down the sidewalk or hanging out at the cenotaph, his “place of clarity,” his friends said.

Brockville’s then-Coun. Leigh Bursey said he knew Fox as an “eccentric character” who considered his teddy bear pranks to be his own personal “artwork.”

“It wouldn’t be uncharacteristic to see him rapping and shadow-boxing. He was always looking to do positive things in the community. He loved to make people smile,” Bursey told the Brockville Recorder and Times after his death.

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“In our hometown he was known as the guy who would leave stuffed animals around, just to make people happy,” said Ferguson in her victim impact statement last week.

“He loved music, art and animals. His loss has affected many people and he is greatly missed every day. It breaks my heart to know how he was taken so carelessly.

“This is something that will haunt me the rest of my life,” she said to Joly. “You’ve destroyed many people’s lives.”

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Before the case can move forward, the judge must first make a ruling on whether Joly was acting recklessly on the night Fox was killed.

According to an agreed statement of facts, filed in court to support his guilty plea, Joly was walking out of the convenience store just before 9 p.m. that night when he saw Fox near his van in a “verbal confrontation” with Joly’s girlfriend.

Fox started walking away toward the intersection and continued “yelling, swearing and taunting” Joly.

Joly got out of his van, ran towards Fox and engaged in a physical fight. Joly struck Fox repeatedly and continued to punch him as he lay on the ground.

Joly’s girlfriend and other witnesses were screaming and pleading with Joly to stop. He went back to his van after a few minutes, according to the case summary, and Fox followed him.

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Fox was “agitated” and stood in front of the van, blocking its path.

Joly revved the engine while the van remained in neutral, then inched forward a few times.

Fox then moved to the driver’s side, grabbed the window and mirror and tried to pull himself up on the vehicle.

Joly put the van in reverse at that point, turned his steering wheel to the right and accelerated backwards, with the front end moving towards Fox. The driver’s side tires “clipped” his feet and legs, causing him to fall as the van drove over him in reverse.

The van could be seen rolling upwards as Joly drove over Fox, according to video of the incident captured by horrified bystanders on their cell phones.

Joly stopped the van, briefly paused, and then drove around Fox as he lay on the ground. He then left the parking lot and drove down Baseline Road.

Witnesses recorded his licence plate number as he drove away and police caught up with him 20 minutes later when they found the van parked outside Joly’s home.

Fox was rushed to hospital but died of internal bleeding from a tear to his heart.

ahelmer@postmedia.com

— With files from Postmedia

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