Drug driver Peter Andrew Scott jailed for 2015 Waterloo Corner crash that killed Alex ‘Alby’ Taylor-Siciliano

A KILLER drug driver who once described his shocking record on the road as the result of being “young and dumb” will spend at least four years in prison over the death of his best mate.

• Court to rule on fatal crash seat-swap claims
• Scott blames record on being ‘young and dumb’
• Taylor-Siciliano’s family delivers heartbreaking testimony

“IT WAS not a matter of if a fatal crash would happen that morning, but rather only a matter of when.”

District Court Judge Paul Muscat has slammed Peter Andrew Scott’s drug driving at speeds of up to 162km/h, describing it as “breathtaking and frightfully dangerous”.

He killed his best friend Alex “Alby” Taylor-Siciliano, 20, in a head-on crash on Heaslip Rd, at Waterloo Corner, on September 29, 2015.

On Wednesday, Judge Muscat jailed Scott — who was high on methamphetamine at the time of the crash — for six years and five months with a non-parole period of four years and 10 months.

He also banned him from driving for 16 years.

Judge Muscat said high-speed, methamphetamine and little sleep was a “recipe for disaster”.

“There is little doubt that a high concentration of methamphetamine in your system contributed to your alarming, erratic, unpredictable and aggressive manner of driving,” he said during sentencing.

“This is a case where it was not a matter of if a fatal crash would happen that morning, but rather only a matter of when.”

Peter Andrew Scott outside court in 2016. Picture: Greg Higgs

Alex Taylor-Siciliano, 20, was killed in a crash at Waterloo Corner in September 2015. Picture: Facebook

Judge Muscat also rejected Scott’s claims that it was Mr Taylor-Siciliano who was driving on the Northern Expressway minutes before the crash.

Last December, the 29-year-old father gave evidence that he and his best friend swapped seats on Heaslip Rd, moments before the fatal smash.

He claimed it was Mr Taylor-Siciliano who was behind the wheel when the car was detected travelling at speeds of up to 162km/h on the Northern Expressway.

But Judge Muscat rejected that claim, saying Scott lied to minimise responsibility.

“The evidence you gave me was utterly unconvincing,” he said.

“It did you no credit to attempt to shift responsibility for the plainly dangerous driving along the Northern Expressway on to Alby Siciliano, who’s obviously not able to refute your false claims.

“You were prepared to lay the blame on him for your driving on the Northern Expressway reflects adversely upon your asserted contrition and remorse.”

Judge Muscat said there were three reasons he found Scott to be untruthful:

*IT was unlikely that Scott would have allowed Mr Taylor-Siciliano to drive the car, which he had borrowed from a friend,

*NOT once did Scott mention to his father that Mr Taylor-Siciliano was behind the wheel, and;

*THE manner of driving did not change between the Northern Expressway and Heaslip Rd.

Last December, Scott blamed his drug addiction and 10-year poor driving history because he was “young and dumb”.

Prosecutor Caite Deane asked Scott about how methamphetamine would normally affect him — a question he struggled to answer.

He told the court he was “messed up with the wrong people”.

“I was mixing with people I shouldn’t have been mixing with,” he said.

Ms Deane asked him: “And why was that?

He relied, ‘young and dumb’.

The month before, Mr Taylor-Siciliano’s mother, Toni Taylor, fought back tears as she told Judge Muscat that her suffering would never end.

“I will grieve for a lifetime. Period. The end,” she said.

“There is no moving on or getting over it, there is no solution to my heartache, no exit for my pain, no going back in time.

“I wish people would understand that grief lasts forever because love lasts forever. The loss of a child is not one tragic event, it is a continuous loss that unfolds minute-by-minute over the course of a lifetime.”