Victoria Police say the suspect in the carjacking on Monday had been arrested by its officers the day before for another attempted carjacking.
VicPD says Seth Packer was arrested in connection with both carjacking incidents.
On Monday, Asha Makwana says a man threw her onto the road along the 1000 block of Johnson Street before entering her vehicle and driving away.
“He was a bigger guy and all it took was one arm to fling me onto the road and then we was gone with my things, gone with my car,” said Makwana.
VicPD says Packer hit another vehicle in the intersection of Cedar Hill Road and Doncaster Drive in Saanich, a collision that sent one person to hospital. He fled that scene, then crash again at Cook Street and Finlayson Street.
At that point he abandoned the vehicle and fled on foot.
A second carjacking attempt
On a nearby side street, James Cole was just starting his day in his home wax making shop.
“I heard [my neighbour] screaming bloody murder,” said Cole. “She got a great set of lungs on her cause the whole neighbourhood, the whole street, came running.”
Cole says a man had run up to a green Volkswagen bug, thrown the woman out of that car, and was scrambling to peel out. Cole says he broke with shift in the process. Stuck in the broken car, Cole and other neighbours were able to wrestle the man out and restrain him until police arrived.
“He’s a big boy. He’s probably 6’3″, pushing 300 pounds,” said Cole.
Packer has been charged with two counts of Robbery, one count of Theft of a Motor Vehicle, one count of Failing to Stop at the Scene of an Accident and one count of Failing to Comply with Conditions for the Monday incident. He is now being held in custody pending a future court appearance.
Charged and released the day before
The day before, Packer had been arrested in the 2900 block of Shelbourne Street. In this incident VicPD says he entered an occupied vehicle and had to be physically removed by the owner.
He was charged with Attempt Theft of Motor Vehicle for the Sunday incident.
VicPD says he was released from custody after the Sunday incident due to Bill C-75 which requires police to release an accused person at the earliest possible opportunity taking into account factors like the likelihood the person will appear in court, the imminence of the risk posed to public safety and “the impact on confidence in the criminal justice system.”
Recourse
Criminal lawyer Kyla Lee says people don’t have a lot of recourse in car accidents because of B.C.’s zero fault policy, but if the carjacker is convicted, the drivers affected could sue for damages. More likely though, is that ICBC will go after him to cover the cost of this spree.
“ICBC, if they’re dealing with an uninsured driver, can breach that individual on the insurance coverage,” said Lee. “They can essentially say you therefore owe us for what we’ve paid for this claim.”
Lee says the typical course of action for ICBC is banning the person from buying insurance or getting a drivers licence in B.C. until they reimburse the insurance provider for the costs incurred as a result of their actions.
Laura Brougham
