Cyclist hater boasted about causing fall that caused rider’s death

EXCLUSIVE: A self-confessed cyclist hater who killed a bike rider after running him off the road has been found guilty of manslaughter after a court heard he thought the victim “deserved it”.

Linda Ellis remembers Steve Jarvie as a “very loving, kind and generous partner”.

A SELF-confessed cyclist hater who killed a bike rider after running him off the road has been found guilty of manslaughter after a court heard he thought the victim “deserved it”.

Minutes after Ben Smith, 27, caused a father of three to fall off his bike and left him for dead he was heard bragging about the incident at a nearby café.

“The f---ing bike rider shouldn’t have been in the middle of the road,” a witness overheard him saying.

Steve Jarvie died on the Pacific Highway at Cowan after being run off the road.

Cyclist hater Ben Smith.

Another man told police he heard an angry Smith say, “I hit him, I’ve got it on my Go-Pro.”

As Smith ranted and raved at the Mount White Café, 61-year-old Steve Jarvie lay dying just a few kilometres away on Old Pacific Highway at Cowan.

Mr Jarvie, a businessman from Sydney’s northern beaches, was just months away from marrying his long-term partner and preparing to retire, when he died on February 17, 2013.

During a 10-day NSW District Court trial a jury was told of a Facebook post in which Smith attacked a person who had a bumper sticker warning road users to stay 1.5 metres away from cyclists.

“Get f---ed c---t. Start paying for using the roads or keep coping abuse and 2inch flybys,” said the post which Crown prosecutor Mark Hobart showed Smith’s hostility towards cyclists.

It took a jury just one day to find Smith guilty.

Whether Smith pushed Mr Jarvie or did a “2-inch flyby” is not clear and will never be known as Smith declined to give evidence and pleaded not guilty.

The GoPro Smith claimed contained footage of the incident was removed from his bike and has never been found by police.

“His callous and reckless behaviour has caused so many lives to be affected.”

When Mr Jarvie’s fiancée Linda Ellis heard the foreperson read out the words “guilty” she said the shock caused her to momentarily lose her hearing,

“But there was an overwhelming sadness as well for Steve not being here, for the life we were just starting to make for ourselves and strangely enough, as a mother of two children myself, I felt quite sad for [Smith] as well,” Ms Ellis told the Saturday Telegraph.

“His callous and reckless behaviour has caused so many lives to be affected – one life lost and so many people affected.”

Mr Jarvie, an engineer, had been living at Collaroy with Ms Ellis. He had been excited about retiring and moving into their new, dream home at Church Point.

“Steve was a very loving, kind and generous partner - always considerate, helpful and agreeable. He had a brilliant intellect and a curious, enquiring mind and his zest for life made him a fun-loving and entertaining companion,” Ms Ellis said.

Ben Smith was found guilty of manslaughter and dangerous driving. Picture: Facebook

Steve Jarvie was riding single file when he fell. Source: Supplied

During the trial the jury heard from a witness who saw Smith yelling and swearing at another cyclist at the Berowra 7-11 petrol station not long before Mr Jarvie’s death.

“The accused was acting aggressively towards that particular fellow, who he obviously didn’t know, mouthing off that cyclists were a bunch of ‘f---ing’ idiots who should not be on the road,” Mr Hobart said.

The witness who saw Smith acting aggressively towards the cyclist earlier in the morning, later confronted him at the Mount White Café and asked him why he had failed to stop after he had sped past Mr Jarvie on his Suzuki motorbike and caused him to fall.

To which he said Smith replied: “The c--- deserved it.”

The Crown case was Smith and his father Mark Smith were speeding on their motorbikes in a racing like manner up the Old Pacific Highway at Cowan early that morning.

Steve Jarvie had a zest for life, Linda Ellis said. Picture: Supplied

At the time Mr Jarvie fell off his bike he was cycling in single file with three close friends – Jon Brett, Greg Stoneham and Robert O’Hearn who went riding together every Sunday morning.

Mr Stoneham who was travelling ahead of Mr Jarvie and remembered Smith speeding past him at “full throttle”, wobbling and waving an arm or gesticulating.

Mr Hobart said Smith carried out manslaughter by criminal negligence and his actions “consciously and voluntarily” had left Mr Jarvie dead.

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“The accused’s acts were negligent in that he breached a duty of care which he owed to the deceased as a fellow road user by driving too close and at a speed not suitable to the road conditions,” he said.

Smith, from Sydney’s Northern Beaches, is on bail but faces the prospect of serving jail time for manslaughter which attracts up to 25 years in jail.

A coronial inquest looking at Mr Jarvie’s death was paused in June 2014 after certain evidence came to light and the Coroner referred the matter to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Smith was later charged in April , 2015.

He will face a sentencing hearing before Judge Mark Buscombe in June.