Maniac driver Ian Peter Clarke jailed for eight years after causing crash which killed Leanne Smith and severely injured her son Ryan
A meth-using driver who accelerated to 210km/h seconds before a horrific crash that killed a mother and severely burned her son has been jailed – but only after the family’s fight for justice went all the way to Detroit.
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A driver who was travelling at 210km/h in the seconds before he crashed into another car, killing a mother and seriously injuring her son, has been jailed for eight and a half years.
District Court Judge Patrick O’Sullivan said drug-driver Ian Peter Clarke, 50, had displayed a “wanton and complete disregard for the law and the safety of the community” when he got behind the wheel on May 20, 2015.
The result of Clarke’s appallingly reckless driving was a “horrendous” crash which killed Leanne Smith, 51, and left her son Ryan with severe burns.
The sentencing on Wednesday brings to an end a legal saga which lasted more than five years and had left Mrs Smith’s family fearing they would never receive closure and justice.
Outside court, Mrs Smith’s sister Jill Romeo said all road users had the right to be safe.
“Dangerous road use is a selfish act that can end in the worst possible outcome – serious injury and loss of life,” she said.
“Far too often it is innocent people who are victims and their families who are impacted forever.”
In the wake of the crash on the Sturt Highway at Annadale, between Truro and Blanchetown, Clarke was charged with causing death and serious harm by dangerous driving.
A blood test taken after the crash showed he had methamphetamine and amphetamine in his system at the time of the crash.
The car he was driving, a Ford Falcon sedan, was unregistered, uninsured and had been defected.
But when expert reports could not determine how fast Clarke was driving, the charges were dropped.
But Ms Romeo and several Major Crash officers never gave up on the case.
In March 2017, an officer travelled to General Motors in Detroit to have a crucial part of the car analysed.
The company experts found that five seconds before the crash, Clarke had been travelling at 209.7km/h.
Without braking, he decelerated before jumping on the brakes a second before the collision, at which time he was travelling at 168.5km/h.
Ms Smith and her son were returning home to Loxton after dropping a friend at the airport.
Their car rolled and burst into flames from the impact.
A passing driver managed to pull her son from the car but Mrs Smith was “consumed by fire”, according to Judge O’Sullivan.
Ryan suffered serious burns and went into cardiac arrest while in hospital.
Clarke was arrested again and charged with the same offences.
He continued to deny that he had been speeding when he crashed into Ms Smith’s car.
Only a year before, he had been caught driving at 217km/h on the Sturt Highway, also at night and with methamphetamine in his system.
Faced with the expert reports, Clarke eventually pleaded guilty but only after months of maintaining his innocence and wanting to take the matter to trial.
“I do not accept that you were not aware of the speed you were travelling,” Judge O’Sullivan said.
“Your guilty pleas are redolent of a grudging acceptance of responsibility and do you little credit.”
Judge O’Sullivan cancelled a suspended six-month Commonwealth sentence for defrauding Centrelink and backdated the sentence to May 28 when he was taken into custody.
He imposed a 10-year sentence for the crash which was reduced for time spent in custody and for a late guilty plea.
A sentence of eight years and five days in prison will commence when the six-month Commonwealth sentence is complete.
Judge O’Sullivan imposed a non-parole period of six years, four months and 12 days on the crash sentence. Clarke was also banned from driving for 20 years.