Sophie Brine jailed for seven years for horrific crash that killed delivery driver Jatinder Brar at Salisbury South
A disqualified driver high on meth and fleeing police in a stolen car when she killed a delivery driver in a hit-run has been jailed for seven years. Outside court her victim’s mother said she would never forgive the woman.
True Crime
Don't miss out on the headlines from True Crime. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- Sophie Brine breaking nearly every road rule, court hears
- Prizes, discounts, freebies: Check out the latest subscriber rewards
When a speeding, drug-fuelled Sophie Brine – who was already banned from driving – smashed her car into a delivery truck and killed its driver, she didn’t even hit the brakes.
In her wake she left Jatinder Brar, who would have turned 27 today, to die on the side of the road.
Brine was sentenced today to seven years in prison for crimes labelled “simply reprehensible” by District Court Judge Joanne Tracey.
It was not Brine’s first time before the court on charges of causing death by dangerous driving.
The reason she was disqualified from driving when she killed Mr Brar was because she was serving a 10-year ban for causing the death of her friend in 2010.
Lauren-Kay Zadow-Mulvey was surfing on the bonnet of a car being driven by Brine – then just 16 – when she slipped off and died on the Worlds End Highway near Eudunda.
Judge Tracey said that Brine had showed “little regard” for the punishment for killing her friend.
“Ten years’ disqualification was a very significant penalty given your youth, yet you were not deterred from continuing to drive,” she said.
Outside court, the mother of Mr Brar – who was remembered as a “super hero” and “ideal brother” by his sister – was asked whether she could forgive Brine.
Shaking her head, she said: “She ruined my world, this world is nothing for me now.”
Brine, 27, was high on methamphetamine, fleeing police and speeding along Kings Rd , Salisbury South on January 4 last year when she ran into the back of Mr Brar’s delivery truck.
The force of the impact sent the truck off the road and into a tree, crushing the cab and killing Mr Brar. Brine fled the scene in her damaged car and continued driving erratically. Judge Tracey said Brine didn’t even brake after the crash.
Instead, she drove to Belfast St in Taperoo, where she parked the car and walked away. Police arrested her just minutes later.
Mr Brar, who was born in India’s Punjab region, had been in Australia since 2012 studying a Masters of Accounting. Only two weeks before the fatal crash, he was celebrating completing the degree with friends and family.
Brine was sentenced to seven years in prison, which was reduced by 29 days for time spent in custody.
Judge Tracey set a non-parole period of five years and seven months. She was indefinitely disqualified from driving.
