(HOWARD ALEXANDER / iNFOnews.ca)

A B.C. man sentenced to life imprisonment for first-degree murder has won a $10,000 pay out after being injured while in the back of a sheriff’s vehicle.

Convicted killer Kevin Jones claimed that he was injured when a sheriff's vehicle that was transporting him from the Vancouver courthouse accidentally backed into a concrete barrier in the parking lot.

Jones claimed $70,000 in damages.

In a Nov. 4 decision, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Amy Francis dismissed the full amount claimed but awarded Jones $10,000 for his injuries.

In 2016, Jones was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 25 years for a first-degree murder that took place in 2009.

According to the Vancouver Sun, Jones shot to death Rajinder Soomel in 2009 in a case of mistaken identity.

At the time of the accident, Jones was sitting in the back of the sheriff's vehicle in handcuffs and his legs in shackles. The vehicle had no seat belts.

The sheriff accidentally reversed the vehicle at low speed into a concrete barrier and Jones claims he hit his head on the bars inside the vehicle, and smashed his knee.

"He described the chain around his ankles 'snapping' on impact in a jerking motion," reads the decision.

Jones said the accident meant he had to take non-prescription painkillers every day.

The court decision looked at Jones's medical records and history before and after the accident.

The decision said Jones had several other medical issues prior to the accident, one of which was caused when he was stabbed by another inmate in custody.

Jones claimed before his incarceration he was very active and played basketball and lifted weights.

The decision went into lengthy details discussing which injuries Jones had prior to the accident and which had occurred since.

Expert witness, Dr. Trent Faraday, said he relied on "subjective reporting" from Jones in coming to his medical conclusions. The doctor found that Jones had chronic neck, upper back, lower back, left hip, left knee, and right ankle pain as a result of the accident.

Justice Francis said there were a "number of problems" with Jones's evidence and what medical issues he'd had prior to the accident.

Based on testimony from two doctors, Justice Francis dismissed some of Jones's medical claims but ultimately ruled he had suffered neck, upper back, lower back, and hip pain.

Jones's claim that as a practicing Muslim his ability to pray five times a day was negatively impacted by the accident was dismissed by the Justice after she ruled his knee and ankle pain arose before the accident.

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