Leigh and Lynette Lyall, who lost both children to a single crash, plead for sentencing consistency

LEIGH and Lynette Lyall will never know why their son and daughter died. Nor will they ever understand why the courts deal with killer drivers so inconsistently.

Leigh and Lynette Lyall. Picture: Greg Higgs

LEIGH and Lynette Lyall will never know why their son and daughter died — nor will they ever understand why the courts deal with careless, killer drivers so inconsistently.

Losing both Troy, 20, and Shanae, 16, in the same crash — near Bute in October 2011 — has left a permanent, unfillable void in the couple’s lives.

Their pain worsened in February 2013 when driver Adrian O’Daniel walked from court, without explaining the crash, with a suspended sentence and 18-month licence disqualification.

Adrian O'Daniel, who was convicted of one aggravated count of driving without due care and attention.

“It was just a slap in the face, the sentence he got — like we’d been told each of our kids was worth only nine months,” Mr Lyall told The Advertiser.

“We’re still not able to forgive him ... his manner, his demeanour, it all seems smug.

“We’ve asked ourselves ‘what if it were Troy?’ and we know he would have taken it on the chin, said ‘I messed up and I have to take what’s coming to me’.”

Troy and Shanae Lyall, who died in a car crash on the Bute to Kadina Road.

Since then, four other drivers have aped O’Daniel’s path and — through plea bargains or other means — reduced their charges to aggravated driving without due care.

Mrs Lyall said those families likely felt the same frustration she did “and that’s just not right”.

“There’s too big a difference between dangerous and careless driving sentences,” she said.

“Who isn’t going to plead guilty to a lesser charge when there’s such a huge gap in penalty?”

The couple said they believed solution lay in legislative change to both driving laws and the plea bargaining process, not jail.

“Sometimes people come out of jail worse than when they went in,” Mr Lyall said.

“The punishment should be about affecting the driver’s life as much as they’ve affected the victims and their families, instead of them walking away while we serve a life sentence.”

Mrs Lyall said that, while every case was different, every driver was “100 per cent responsible” for their passengers and conduct on the road.

“We have all these laws in place where you lose your licence but, when the worst thing you can do on the road occurs, you’re dealt with in a softer manner,” she said.

“People are losing their licences for only a minimal time after causing deaths while others are getting longer disqualifications for doing burnouts ... it doesn’t balance.

“We’re not asking for jail time, we’re asking for a minimum five-year licence disqualification per death.

“This is not about jail, it’s not about nasty vengeance — it’s about actual, consistent consequences.”