A cab driver convicted by a jury of manslaughter was sentenced Friday to four years in prison for running over a longboarder in what the judge called an “instant of unbridled road rage.”

Surveillance video played during the trial showed longboarder Ralph Bissonnette, 28, moving parallel with Ambassador cab driver Adib Ibrahim on King St. E in 2012.

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The Crown argued that Ibrahim, a longtime cab driver, veered his car into Bissonnette likely motivated by an interaction they’d had shortly before.

Bissonnette died from crushing brain injuries caused by the collision.

Ibrahim, 47, testified that the collision was an accident, and he failed to see Bissonnette while making a lane change in preparation for turning right.

The Crown had asked for a sentence of seven to nine years, while the defence had asked for a 90-day sentence to be served on weekends.

Bissonnette was a young man with a bright future ahead of him, Superior Court Justice Robert Clark said in his ruling.

“It takes little in the way of imagination to conclude that Mr. Bissonnette’s final moments must have been a combination of horrific pain and abject terror,” Clark said. “The only merciful thing is that his death was swift.”

Clark said he disbelieved Ibrahim’s testimony in several ways, finding that Bissonnette yelled and hit the cab with his hand prior to the collision.

“It is unrealistic to think that Mr. Ibrahim began to change lanes without even looking in the direction he was going,” Clark said, adding Bissonnette, who was six feet, four inches tall, would have been in Ibrahim’s peripheral vision and that Ibrahim would have heard Bissonnette yelling and hitting the car.

Clark also found Ibrahim deliberately intended to hit Bissonnette by swerving his car into the curb lane, using his vehicle as a weapon — and did not intend to just scare him.

However, he found that by doing so Ibrahim did not intend to kill Bissonnette or cause him serious bodily harm, noting that the collision occurred in just a few seconds.

“Although it appears that Mr. Ibrahim is a good man in many respects, the fact remains that he lost his temper over what, objectively viewed, was an annoyance and nothing more.”

Clark noted that Ibrahim expressed remorse over Bissonnette’s death but did not take responsibility for his role in causing it. After receiving credit for pre-trial custody, Ibrahim would have just under four years to serve, he said.

Ibrahim, who was also banned from driving for six years, was released on bail pending appeal later Friday.

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After the sentencing hearing, Ibrahim’s lawyer Peter Thorning told reporters he was disappointed with both the conviction and the sentence and would be appealing both. One particular issue, he said, is that the judge’s charge to the jury left them with little choice other than to make a finding of manslaughter.

He repeated that, in his view and Ibrahim’s view, what occurred was a tragic accident.