Road to Justice: Christine Stebbing on ‘merciless’ SA court system that saw killer driver fined just $300

The man who killed Christine Stebbing’s husband Tony in a crash was fined just $300. When he was later done for drink driving, he paid three times that.

Christine Stebbing, with a photo of her husband Tony, who was killed by reckless driver Michael Ian White. Picture: Mike Burton

Michael Ian White had committed so many driving offences that, when his car fatally collided with that of Tony Stebbing, he had been on his P-plates for 10 years.

Charged with causing Mr Stebbing’s death by dangerous driving, he confessed to lesser offending in a plea bargain that saw him fined $300 and disqualified for 21 days.

Just seven years later he was back in court for drink-driving – and his penalty for that offence was three times the amount he paid over Mr Stebbing’s death.

For Mr Stebbing’s wife, Christine, it was yet another cruel insult in her arduous journey through the “merciless” legal system.

“I will never get over how the court system and prosecutors led me through a (process that was) distressing and, in the end, the driver was charged with practically nothing,” she said.

“I did not want the driver to be jailed – no punishment would bring back my husband.

“All I wanted was for him to publicly or privately acknowledge that he felt some sadness for our loss and regret that it happened.”

In September 2010, White, now 34, was speeding when his car collided with Mr Stebbing’s at Blakeview.

The incident occurred out the front of the Stebbings’ home.

“My family and I were shattered … we had been married for 31 years … a part of me died too,” she said.

“Tony was a much-loved man … he was strong, fit and healthy with a close network of friends and family and who led a good lifestyle.

Michael Ian White was fined $300 and lost his licence for 21 days for killing Tony Stebbing in a crash.

Tony Stebbing died in the crash just outside his home in 2010.

“The effect of his loss is always felt and always will be … it never goes away, the memory of the worst day of my life when it felt like my life was taken too.”

In court, White argued Mr Stebbing, 55, had turned in front of him “at very slow speed”, and prosecutors accepted his claim – against Mrs Stebbing’s wishes.

“I was devastated by the attitude of the charged driver, he sneered at me in court and it was said bluntly my husband caused his own death,” she said.

“He even posted a picture of the crashed car that my husband was killed in on Facebook.

“I continuously expressed and put my reasoning to the DPP but I felt I was not listened to, that they really did not care about any of my feelings … I was just another statistic.

“One of the worst things was that Tony was dead, he was unable to defend himself for any actions.

“It made me feel so helpless as I would have done anything to defend him but was unable to … it was at the hands of a merciless court system.

Mrs Stebbing has joined The Advertiser’s campaign to set minimum sentencing standards for driving offences to try to spare others her ordeal.

“When I see others suffering in the same way it makes me so sad and also angry for them and I know how they must feel,” she said.

“No one can ever comprehend what it feels like until it happens to them.

“I go through times of deep rage that the life of a person was seemingly taken so lightly by the DPP and the driver.

“It was as if it didn’t matter, that the loss of his life was insignificant.”