Adelaide teen driver in fatal Georgina Heath crash’s not bad enough for adult sentence, SA court told

A speeding, drunk teenager who killed a top Adelaide academic says he can’t be sentenced as an adult – and his reasons may turn state law on its head.

A speeding, grossly drunk, P-plate disobeying teenage driver who killed an academic in a road crash cannot receive an adult’s life sentence because his crime is not serious enough, a court has heard.

On Monday, counsel for the now-adult driver told the District Court that SA’s young offender laws were toughened to deal with the worst of the worst – and their client did not fit that definition.

The legal change was drafted in 2017 following the high-speed road crash death of Nicole Tucker, whose killer received a non-parole period of just 18 months.

It released courts from having to consider the “care, correction and guidance” of youths and instead impose adult sentences prioritising community safety and general deterrence.

Brittany Armstrong, for the driver, said research showed just “16 offenders in the past three years” had warranted adult sentences.

Hackham car crash victim Georgina Heath, left with Teyah Heath and daughter Jessie Heath Picture: Supplied,

That, she said, meant the driver should face only the three-year maximum detention legislated for youths, rather than the life sentence his offence carries.

She conceded her client’s crime was similar to that which took Mrs Tucker’s life but said, unlike her killer, he had no prior criminal history.

“This Bill was not put in place to get more youths sentenced as adults – it was put in place for the most extreme cases, or for offenders who have significant criminal histories,” she said.

“It is not for the ordinary, or for every youth that commits an offence, but for the very small number of the most serious offenders.”

Judge Paul Muscat said that position had never been argued in “this court, the Supreme Court or the Court of Appeal” since the legislation was revamped.

“I sentenced a 14-year-old as an adult two years ago and this was not brought to my attention … it may well have made a difference, I may well have been wrong,” he said.

“This is a very important sentencing consideration … this is a very different case, where we have an offender of otherwise exceptional character.”

In September last year, the 19-year-old pleaded guilty to one aggravated count of having caused Dr Heath’s death, by dangerous driving, at Hackham in 2023.

Then aged 17, and with a blood alcohol reading of 0.128, he was behind the wheel of a Mitsubishi Lancer that collided with another car at between 139km/h and 150km/h.

Dr Heath, 51, was a passenger in the other vehicle and died at the scene – her partner and four other people, including the passenger in the Lancer, were injured.

In March, Dr Heath’s friends and family denounced the driver as an “ignorant” and “destructive murderer”, while he apologised and said he “never intended” to hurt anyone.

On Monday, the court also heard a victim impact statement from the driver’s best friend, who was his passenger on the night of the crash.

He said he “wanted to emphasise” he did not blame the driver “for the accident”, and that his friend would “trade places with anyone involved” and “take their pain as his own” if he could.

Judge Muscat urged prosecutors to seek the opinion of Director of Public Prosecutions Martin Hinton KC, about the law, before a further hearing next month.

He remanded the driver on continuing bail for sentencing in September.