A man from Inuvik has been sentenced to six years in prison for impaired driving causing the death of a man he described as his “best friend” in October 2022.
Joseph Wright, 30, was convicted in June of one count each of impaired operation causing death and criminal negligence causing the death of 25-year-old Morgan Sydney.
NWT Supreme Court Chief Justice Shannon Smallwood sentenced Wright in Inuvik last week to six years for the impaired operation charge to be served at the same time as a five-year sentence for the criminal negligence charge, as first reported by CBC. He was given 50 days credit for time served in custody before sentencing.
Once released from prison, Wright will be prohibited from driving for five years.
In victim impact statements filed with the court, several of Morgan’s family members described him as one-of-a-kind, handsome, bright, bubbly, generous and a gentle giant who stood at six feet three inches tall.
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Shawna Sydney, Morgan’s aunt, said he was proud of his Inuvialuit roots and being from Sachs Harbour. His mother, Phyllis Kasook, said Morgan had been accepted into a millwright school.
“Because of this accident, I will never be the same until my last breath,” Kasook wrote.
Family members said they have experienced grief, anxiety, stress and depression since Morgan’s death and expressed sadness they will not get to see him pursue his dreams and continue to be a father to his son.
“When my brother died I lost a part of my past and a part of my future,” his sister Bryanna Storr wrote.
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‘I did not want any of this to happen’
According to an agreed statement of facts, Wright had been driving his employer’s pickup truck on the Inuvik-Tuktoyatuk Highway outside the town on October 8, 2022.
At one point, the facts state, Morgan was on the hood of the truck while Wright was driving when Morgan fell off and sustained a fatal head injury.
Morgan was taken to the University of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton, where he died of his injuries on October 10, 2022.
During a sentencing hearing, Crown prosecutor Brendan Green said Wright should be sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment while defence lawyer John Hale argued for a conditional sentence of 18 months to two years less a day.
Wright told the author of a pre-sentencing report that Morgan was his friend since childhood and the accident was “the worst thing that ever happened” in his life.
He said he feels remorse and regret for choosing to drink and drive and putting himself and Morgan into the situation that led to the accident.
“We thought we were having a good time till we were not,” Wright was quoted saying.
“That was my best friend, I did not want any of this to happen.”
According to the pre-sentencing report, Wright has a prior offence for impaired driving. In an interview with the author of the report, Wright said he wants to attend treatment for alcohol use once he is released from prison.
