South Australia’s deadliest drivers of the decade revealed
From a man distracted by an in-car DVD to a street racer, a drunk and a drugged-up speeder, these are the state’s deadliest drivers of the last 10 years.
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They were drivers from all over the state, from a Chinese-born taxi driver to a teenage hoon, but they all had one thing in common: their carelessness behind the wheel led to the deaths of others.
Here are the state’s worst drivers of the decade.
LYLE MORRISON
The teenage hoon who sped through a red light in Adelaide and slammed into a car killing the driver was jailed for at least seven years.
Morrison, then 19, was behind the wheel of a stolen Pajero travelling up to 134 km/h when it hit the car of Lucy Paveley in August, 2017.
He fled the scene but eventually pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving and other offences.
An earlier charge of manslaughter was dropped by the prosecution.
Judge Liesl Chapman described Morrison’s conduct as appalling and highly reckless.
“It was nothing less than shocking, shameful and disgraceful,” Judge Chapman said.
She said Morrison had ample time to stop before entering the intersection.
“Instead you ran that red light in total disregard of other roads users.”
MITCHELL DEANE FRANKLIN
A killer driver who was distracted by his in-car DVD player when he struck and killed an elderly man was ordered to serve at least two years and nine months’ jail — but only, a judge said, because of mandatory sentencing laws.
Franklin, then 28, of Andrews Farm, killed Harvie Spencer, 86, by driving dangerously on the Augusta Highway in June 2013.
District Court Judge Paul Muscat said in May, 2017 he would have jailed Franklin for less time, were he not “constrained” by legislation.
He said it would have been appropriate given Franklin’s good background, history of community service and remorse, despite the death of Spencer having been “so utterly avoidable”.
“You can doubt the utility of (mandatory sentencing) … however, parliament creates the law and it is the court’s duty to apply it,” Judge Muscat said.
“Had I not been so constrained, it would have been a significantly lower non-parole period to reflect your many good personal qualities and to encourage your rehabilitation.
“It’s not as if you are a recidivist offender who has not reformed — far from it.
“I think that any fair-minded observer sitting in this courtroom who has listened to all of the circumstances would also agree with that.”
BO XI LI
The fiancee of an Adelaide Hills man killed by a “reckless and foolhardy” taxi driver on a winding Adelaide Hills road criticised a judge’s decision to allow Li to serve his jail term on home detention.
Li, then 30, killed retired electrical engineer Trevor Bird, 68, in a head-on crash after he lost control of his Mitsubishi Lancer at 104km/h and crossed on to the wrong side of North East Rd at Houghton on September 30, 2012.
Li, a father of one originally from China, also seriously injured his own wife, Yuegai, his victim’s fiancee, Timea Dixon and an unnamed friend while returning from the Barossa Valley. The crash, which occurred in an 80km/h zone and on a “recommended” 50km/h bend, came just four months after Li was convicted of driving without due care over a similar high-speed accident.
District Court Judge Michael Boylan said in September, 2016 his “reckless, foolhardy and “completely unacceptable” behaviour must be punished.
As relatives of both sides wept in the public gallery, Judge Boylan jailed an impassioned Li for five years with a non-parole period of four years, finding “no good reason” to suspend the sentence.
Despite labelling it “very serious offending”, he ruled that Li would become one of the first in the state to serve his jail term on home detention under new laws that came into force that month.
But outside court, Mrs Dixon, 72, of Birdwood, who suffered broken ribs, pelvis, hand and ankle, expressed her “disappointment” at the ruling and questioned the legal process.
She also claimed to have seen Li speed along the road days prior to the accident.
“He should have gone to jail,” she said. “He doesn’t care he took a life. He gets to live with his wife.
“I don’t think I can accept it after what he did to me, Trevor’s family and my family. I am devastated. He has shown no remorse whatsoever. He didn’t care that he took a life and caused injuries to other people.”
AKOL AGIU AKOL
A grieving family walked out on a court apology from the street-racing driver who was drunk, drugged and disqualified when he killed the sister of a Socceroo in a high-speed crash in Adelaide.
Akol told the District Court in February last year he wished he could “reach back in time and confront myself” ahead of the fatal crash on Australia Day, 2019.
The crash killed his girlfriend Bor Mabil, the 19-year-old sister of Socceroos player Awer Mabil, who was not wearing a seatbelt and suffered a traumatic head injury.
Akol said he took full responsibility for the crash and was ready to accept his punishment, pleading guilty to one aggravated count of causing death by dangerous driving.
“Nothing I say today can ever make up for my actions or the grief that her family are forced to endure for the rest of their lives,” Akol said.
“I do not deserve forgiveness.”
He acknowledged that he made the decision to drive, was speeding and had over-estimated his abilities behind the wheel.
Prosecutor Leah O’Donnell said Akol had a blood-alcohol level of 0.22 and a small amount of MDMA in his system at the time of the crash.
“The fact is Mr Akol chose to drive in the manner that he did knowing that he was drunk, knowing that he was disqualified and knowing that he had taken a small amount of an illicit drug,” Ms O’Donnell said.
His lawyer, Jason Evitts said Akol’s driving had “no place on our roads”.
The prosecution appealed that his sentence was manifestly inadequate sentence and it was increased to four years and six months.
SOPHIE BRINE
When a speeding, drug-fuelled Brine – who was already banned from driving – smashed her car into a delivery truck and killed its driver, she didn’t even hit the brakes.
In her wake she left Jatinder Singh Brar to die on the side of the road.
Brine, then 27, was high on methamphetamine, fleeing police and speeding along Kings Rd, Salisbury South on January 4, 2019 when she ran into the back of Mr Brar’s delivery truck.
The force of the impact sent the truck off the road and into a tree, crushing the cab and killing Mr Brar.
Brine fled the scene in her damaged car and continued driving erratically.
Judge Tracey said in March last year Brine didn’t even brake after the crash.
Instead, she drove to Belfast St in Taperoo, where she parked the car and walked away. Police arrested her just minutes later.
Brine was sentenced to a non parole period of five years and seven months in prison for crimes labelled “simply reprehensible” by District Court Judge Joanne Tracey in March.
Outside court, the mother of Mr Brar – who was remembered as a “super hero” and “ideal brother” by his sister – was asked whether she could forgive Brine.
Shaking her head, she said: “She ruined my world, this world is nothing for me now.
IAN PETER CLARKE
He had been labelled a “disrespectful disgrace” by the state’s courts, as well as a serial road pest but five years after a shocking crash, Clarke was a self-confessed killer driver.
Clarke stood in the dock of the District Court in March last year and at last admitted he killed Loxton woman Leanne Smith at Annadale in May, 2015.
Clarke – who was driving at 45km/h over the speed limit and high on meth at the time – also conceded he seriously injured Mrs Smith’s son, Ryan, with severe burns in the fiery crash.
He was travelling at 210km/h in the seconds before he crashed into Smiths’ car.
His demeanour in the dock was in stark contrast to his first appearance on the charges when, during a bid for bail, he told a court the case was “bulls--”.
Clarke, 50, whose appalling criminal driving history spans 37 pages of police records, was jailed for at least six years.
District Court Judge Patrick O’Sullivan said in June last year drug-driver Clarke, then 50, had displayed a “wanton and complete disregard for the law and the safety of the community” when he got behind the wheel.
Clarke was initially released in 2016 after 15 months in custody after serious charges were dropped over the death of the Riverland mother and grave injuries to her son, after a dispute over expert evidence.
However, he was charged for a second time in 2018.
SA Police said the serious charges had again been put before the court, after Major Crash experts travelled to the United States’ Ford headquarters to undertake state-of-the-art analysis on the airbag of Clarke’s vehicle.
NATHAN LEE MCARDLE
The driver admitted he was intoxicated when he crashed into a house and killed a 27-year-old mother who was inside her bedroom in June, 2013.
A year later, McArdle, then 28, of Tailem Bend, pleaded guilty in the District Court to causing the death of Elishia Iannella by dangerous driving at Murray Bridge.
He also pleaded guilty to seriously injuring Ms Iannella’s boyfriend, Matthew Macklin, in the same incident who had proposed to her several weeks before the incident.
District Court Judge Peter Brebner said in November, 2014 McArdle had no recollection of the crash, that his blood alcohol limit was an estimated 0.14 and that he was travelling at between 57km/h and 78km/h.
The court heard McArdle, who was sentenced to at least three and a half years jail, had been drinking, after a relationship breakdown, when he called the pastor at his local church.
“You told him you were drinking and that you were driving and that you had nothing to live for,” Judge Brebner said.
Judge Brebner said McArdle was driving to see the pastor when, according to McArdle, he sneezed at a T-junction and crashed into Ms Iannella’s house.
Anthony Allen, for McArdle, said his client would be seeking to contact the family of his victims through the Centre for Restorative Justice.
In her victim impact statement, Ms Iannella’s daughter, Adaya, 8, said she still could not understand why her mother had been taken from her.
“When I was told my mum had been taken to heaven I wondered why I was not taken with her because we went everywhere together,” she said.
SASAN ZAR SABET
The speeding “show-off” driver was jailed for at least two years and five months for killing a pedestrian in a catastrophic, full-throttle collision that sent the victim hurtling 30m through the air.
The District Court convicted Sabet of causing the death of Peter Chiappetta by dangerous driving on Port Rd in December, 2014.
In her written verdict in February, 2017, Judge Geraldine Davison — who heard the trial in the absence of a jury — rejected claims Mr Chiappetta had drunkenly run out onto the road.
The impact with Sabet’s modified, turbocharged Holden HSV GTS severed Mr Chiappetta’s right foot at the ankle, and his right leg at the hip, and sent him into the air.
His body travelled 30m back down Port Rd, toward the Adelaide Entertainment Centre, and then slid for a further 29m before coming to rest.
“The only explanation for Sabet not seeing Mr Chiappetta until very shortly before the collision is (Sabet’s) gross inattention,” Judge Davison said.
Sabet, then 37, of Brompton, pleaded not guilty at trial over the incident, which occurred in front of horrified patrons of both the Entertainment Centre and nearby hotels.
KAIN WILLIAM BOWMAN
The widow of a man killed by a disqualified driver travelling at up to twice the legal speed limit in a hit-run as he walked from his son’s soccer practice was relieved her late husband received justice.
Bowman, then 27, admitted mowing down Kieran Hayward, 45, while speeding at up to 100km/h in a 50km/h zone in Ingle Farm as the father held his two young children’s hands while crossing a northern suburbs road in August 2015
A “heroic” Mr Hayward, a refrigeration mechanic of Walkley Heights, in Adelaide’s northeast, suffered “catastrophic injuries” after being flung almost 30m and died during surgery at the Royal Adelaide Hospital.
His two children, then aged seven and five, were uninjured after they ran to either side of the road.
Bowman, who has a mild intellectual disability, fled the Beovich Rd, Ingle Farm, scene before torching his friend’s white Ford ute 1.7km away in Celtic Ave.
He was arrested two days later.
In the District Court, he admitted causing Mr Hayward’s death by aggravated dangerous driving and leaving the scene of an accident after causing a death by careless driving.
Showing no emotion, Bowman, of Ingle Farm, changed his plea to guilty during an administrative hearing scheduled to decide whether he wanted to face a jury trial or one overseen by a judge.
He was eventually sentenced to a non parole period of two years and three months in April, 2017.
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