Sean Fewster: Killer driver punishment must meet public expectation

Despite case after case of broken lives – and repeated calls – benchmarks for sentencing killer drivers has never happened, writes Sean Fewster.

Lauren Ralph, the sister of road-crash victim Abigail. Picture: Mike Burton

Today The Advertiser joins with the families of crash victims to campaign for an end to the inconsistent sentencing of killer drivers.

Road to Justice is this newspaper’s first campaign of 2021 but not the first time it has tried to address the systemic injustice surrounding these cases. Since the death of Abigail Ralph in 2003, the public has called for judges and politicians to set a benchmark for the punishment of drugged, speeding, drunk, reckless drivers.

The situation could have been rectified as early as 2004, when prosecutors and the then-Labor government challenged the paltry 18-month term given to Abigail’s killer.

The most salient point was made by then Solicitor-General Chris Kourakis QC, who argued the only consistency in the system was “consistent under-sentencing” of offenders. But the appeals court ignored him and refused to set a benchmark, claiming it would be “unwise and unhelpful”.

Abigail’s case became the standard, used time and again by judges to justify short sentences, suspended sentences, and sometimes no sentence at all.

Prosecutors who challenged those outcomes continued to find little sympathy in the appeals court, even after it came under the leadership of now Chief Justice Kourakis.

Defeated, they turned to plea bargaining so as to at least secure convictions – handing offenders 93 per cent sentencing discounts in the process. Throughout that time, The Advertiser has continued to cover case after case of lost lives, broken families and destroyed futures.

This newspaper has closely watched sentencing trends and repeatedly asked politicians to intervene on behalf of victims.

Now those victims – led by Abigail’s sister, Lauren – are stepping back into the spotlight to demand change. They are reliving their trauma again in the hope it will spare others their pain.

The courts have made it plain they will not sentence in line with community expectations.

It now falls to the State Government and Opposition to immediately take decisive, long-overdue action and fix the law.