ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — Months after he was charged in connection with the crash that paralyzed her, Joshua Steele-Young told his ex-girlfriend, Morgan Pardy, that he would plead guilty if they could get back together.
That was on Jan. 15, 2018, the same day Steele-Young had been arraigned in Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court on charges of dangerous driving causing bodily harm and forcible confinement.
Steele-Young was convicted last summer of the dangerous driving charge and sentenced to two years in prison, where he remains.
On Wednesday he pleaded guilty in provincial court to contacting Pardy many times while awaiting trial, thereby violating a condition of his bail.
"...he was in love with this young woman." —Defence lawyer Randy Piercey
His lawyer, Randy Piercey, asked Judge Colin Flynn not to sentence Steele-Young to any more jail time, arguing the 24-year-old had been wrong to contact Pardy, but had done it out of love.
“Not to get emotional, but he was in love with this young woman and it was because of his actions she’s possibly quadriplegic,” Piercey said.
Piercey said Pardy had invited Steele-Young to visit her.
“I think it would be difficult enough for a man my age not to go, but for a young man like him, it was almost impossible.”
Pardy had been a passenger in Steele-Young’s Honda Civic the morning of March 20, 2017, having ended their five-month relationship with him days earlier, but agreeing to go for a drive to talk. The pair argued and when Steele-Young grew angry, Pardy undid her seatbelt and demanded he let her out on Pitts Memorial Drive. Steele-Young refused to stop the car, which was travelling 130 km/h in snowy conditions, and he lost control of the vehicle. Witnesses saw it spin off the highway before flipping a number of times, with Pardy thrown from the car high into the air.
Pardy, 24, suffered serious injuries as a result of the crash and is paralyzed from the neck down.
One day four months after the crash, as she was a patient at the Miller Centre in St. John’s, Pardy received a number of calls on her cellphone from an unknown number. When she answered, no one spoke. The next day she received three similar calls.
“Ms. Pardy was getting fed up. She answered her phone, but did not say anything. At that time, the person on the other end of the line told her he loved her, and he repeated this numerous times,” prosecutor Jennifer Lundrigan said in court Wednesday. “Ms. Pardy knew that Joshua Steele-Young was the caller. She recognized his voice. She was confident.”
In January 2018, days after his arraignment, Pardy told police Steele-Young had been contacting her daily for a couple of months, online and through a friend. The contact included him calling her a rat, telling her, “I’m sorry, I love you,” telling her he would plead guilty if they reconciled, and saying she looked and sounded different. Pardy told police she had replied to him on occasion when she got angry, and hadn’t reported the contact earlier in an effort not to ruin Christmas for her mother.
Lundrigan stressed Pardy’s vulnerability at the time Steele-Young contacted her, and said the repeated communication had affected Pardy’s personal security and mental health. Calling Steele-Young’s contact intimidating, taunting and hurtful toward Pardy, the prosecutor noted he had not been deterred by being charged and spending a week in jail after he first violated the order.
“Mr. Steele-Young had the opportunity time and time again to reflect on his actions, but simply chose not to,” Lundrigan said. “He was quite determined to remain in contact with her.”
Piercey argued Steele-Young had also been in a vulnerable state with anxiety and stress, and noted he has completed an anger management course since being incarcerated.
“I recognize that you’re doing well in the institutional setting, but I have to deal with the offences,” the judge said before delivering his decision.
He acknowledged Pardy had been a willing participant in the contact at times.
“That’s not unusual in cases where there is a relationship. That doesn’t excuse it,” the judge said.
He sentenced Steele-Young to three months in jail — minus credit for three weeks Steele-Young spent on remand — to be served consecutive to his current sentence.
Twitter: @tara_bradbury
