Richard Pusey’s jail sentence for Eastern Freeway tragedy explained
The Porsche driver’s sentence will outrage many but here’s why Richard Pusey only got 10 months.
Opinion
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Lock them up and throw away the key. They are words often saved for our worst offenders. Think murderers, rapists and paedophiles.
But it is a phrase that has repeatedly been thrown around about Richard Pusey.
That is why today’s sentence will outrage many.
The millionaire mortgage broker was sentenced to 10 months jail, and made a promise to the court he would be of good behaviour for two years on his release.
With time already served, he could be released back into the community within a week.
It doesn’t seem fitting for a man who had become the poster boy of the Eastern Freeway tragedy.
But it is easy to forget amid all the horrific details about what he did in the aftermath of the crash that Pusey was never found responsible for the deaths of the four officers.
Yes, if he didn’t drive his Porsche down the freeway at maniac speeds then the officers would never have intercepted him and been on the roadside at the precise moment drug addled truck driver Mohinder Singh mowed them down.
His leadfoot actions started a domino effect.
But the law is the law. And at the end of the day, being a downright despicable scumbag devoid of any redeeming features unfortunately isn’t an offence that comes with a lengthy sentence.
In the end Pusey pleaded guilty to four charges.
The first was reckless conduct endangering serious injury, an offence that comes with a maximum penalty of five years. Pusey got eight months.
This offence does not relate to the Eastern Freeway crash, but instead an alleged speeding incident involving Pusey caught on dashcam footage travelling at up to 300km/h along the Eastern Freeway on March 21, a month before the April 22 crash.
The worst of his crimes relating to the Eastern Freeway crash were his actions to walk around filming the dying and dead police officers, zooming in on their horrific injuries and repeatedly remarking “amazing”.
He once worked as a nurse for two years and should have stopped and helped instead.
This brings on the outraging public decency charge. Of course his actions outraged the public.
His defence counsel tried to have the hotly-debated charge thrown out claiming it no longer existed in Australia.
The issue with this charge is it is rare. The prosecution had to scrape the barrel to find any past examples for the sentencing judge to refer to. It was last used in Victoria in 1963.
There are also no maximum penalty guidelines for judge’s to follow.
It is a common law offence that is left to the judge’s discretion.
In the community’s eye, it was Judge Trevor Wraight’s time to shine and send a strong message to would-be offenders that this type of disgusting behaviour is not acceptable.
Instead, Judge Wraight dished out a three-month term for what he even described as “heartless, cruel and disgraceful” offending.
He then ordered Pusey serve two months of it on top of the eight months for his reckless driving, making a total sentence for 10 months imprisonment.
Pusey was also convicted on a third charge of possessing a drug of dependence relating to 0.3g of ketamine and 0.4g of MDMA found in Pusey’s lunch bag, which he was seen removing from the wreckage of his Porsche before leaving the crash site.
The judge had the ability to dish out a fine of up to 30 penalty units (around $5000) or a year imprisonment. He placed Pusey on an adjourned undertaking, essentially a promise to the court he would be of good behaviour for two years.
Pusey will have to continue psychological treatment under the bond, and return before Judge Wraight to see how he is tracking in six months, and again six months after that.
The fourth and final charge Pusey pleaded guilty to was exceeding the speed limit, the very offence that found the police officers on the roadside. They had clocked him doing 149km/h in a 100km/h zone.
This is not a charge punishable by jail, and instead comes with a maximum penalty of 20 penalty units (around $3300).
Pusey was fined $1000 and had his licence suspended for two years. He will not be eligible to drive again until October 2022.
Judge Wraight pointed to four key mitigating factors: Pusey’s guilty plea and remorse; his mental health; extra curial punishment in that he was demonised in the community and by the media, and tough conditions in prison due to COVID.
He said Pusey deserved a significant discount for his guilty plea.
And it is one that he gave.
If he had not pleaded guilty, Judge Wraight said he would have sentenced him to 16 months jail and set a 12-month non-parole period.
No matter how much the community, including myself, was outraged, we can’t lock him up forever.
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Originally published as Richard Pusey’s jail sentence for Eastern Freeway tragedy explained
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