Driver sentenced to 5 years in prison for fatal Vancouver hit-and-run

The man behind the wheel in a fatal hit-and-run crash in Vancouver’s Kitsilano area two years ago was handed his sentence Friday.

Alexandre Romero-Arata was given five years in prison minus two years and six months as credit for time served. He will also be banned from driving for eight years.

Romero-Arata pleaded guilty to criminal negligence causing death after the June 19, 2022, crash that killed 24-year-old Irish national Eoghan Byrne.

Surveillance video of the collision was played in court showing a sedan speeding toward Byrne and his friend Mike McGovern as they cross the street at West 4th Avenue near Arbutus Street.

Romero-Arata’s vehicle hits Byrne and does not stop.

Byrne’s grieving family travelled from Ireland to Vancouver to read victim impact statements at the driver’s sentencing hearing.

Speaking outside the courthouse minutes after the sentencing Friday, Byrne’s father Eugene said the family was “devastated, broken-hearted (and) drowning with grief.”

“This will be our third Christmas without Eoghan,” he told CTV News. “We have been given a life sentence; our lives have changed forever.”

Romero-Arata read an apology letter to the family during the hearing, but Eugene said it “fell on deaf ears” two and a half years after the tragic crash. 

With files from CTV News Vancouver’s Kraig Krause