Riley Jack Camin, 19, of Kyabram, took his case to the Court of Appeal in the Supreme Court which was sitting at Shepparton on Wednesday, June 5.
Camin’s senior counsel Susanna Locke argued the sentence her client received in the County Court in December last year was “manifestly excessive”.
Camin pleaded guilty and was sentenced for dangerous driving causing death and dangerous driving causing serious injury for a crash at Lancaster in January last year that killed Shepparton’s Alexander ‘Bill’ Eagle and injured Camin’s best friend, who was a passenger in Camin’s vehicle.
Camin was only 18 years old when he drove through a stop sign on Dunbar Rd and crashed into Mr Eagle’s ute at the intersection with Lancaster Rd at 10.35pm on January 20, 2023, killing Mr Eagle.
The court heard Camin missed a warning sign that said a stop sign was 80m away at an intersection.
When the NSW P-plater drove over a slight rise in the road where a channel was, spotted the stop sign at the intersection and hit the brakes, he was only 10m from the intersection.
Mr Eagle, 69, was on his way home from a golf club at Kyabram where he had been shooting rabbits to help the club control the pests.
Ms Locke said the seriousness of the consequences of the offences had been admitted by Camin in his County Court plea.
“This was a case of momentary inattention with tragic consequences,” she said.
Ms Locke said the County Court judge had accepted Camin’s offending was “at the lower end” of the scale in terms of gravity for this type of offence.
She also said there was only a ‘stop sign ahead’ 80m before the intersection — which Camin had not seen — before a stop sign and painted lines on the road at the intersection.
It was also dark and the road was not lit.
This, coupled with Camin’s remorse, his conduct at the scene of the crash where he was “clearly distressed and making admissions”, and the impact it had had on him, should all be taken into account in the sentence imposed, Ms Locke said.
She also said that once a youth detention order was available, rather than sending Camin to adult prison, the court was able to impose any term of detention to a maximum of four years.
Representing the Crown, Elizabeth Ruddle argued against lessening Camin’s sentence.
“The reality of the County Court is we are consistently faced with young men of otherwise good character who have taken the life of another by their dangerous driving, and they are genuinely remorseful,” Ms Ruddle said.
“Young men … need to understand a vehicle is a lethal weapon when driven dangerously.”
Ms Ruddle said that to describe what happened as “momentary inattention” underplayed Camin’s conduct.
She also spoke of “heart-wrenching” victim impact statements made to the County Court hearing by Mr Eagle’s family that spoke of a much-loved husband, father and grandfather.
Ms Ruddle said the two-year sentence was “only one year more” than a mandatory minimum 12-month sentence.
The three justices sitting in the Court of Appeal will deliver their decision on Friday.
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