Disastrous consequences of dangerous driving: 10 SEQ drivers jailed
“I started floating to the white light”: These are the stories of 10 drivers, jailed for dangerous or careless driving causing heartbreaking results, and the tales of their brave victims.
Logan
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Behind every major car crash there is a victim with a powerful story of perseverance and resilience or a family left grieving after a tragic mistake.
Summer Mills had just celebrated her 18th birthday when a drink-driver, who was three times over the blood alcohol limit, struck her in January 2021.
“Like any teenager, I was excited to turn 18, little did I know that my carefree smile as I walked towards my car that night would be the last smile I would have for a very long time,” Ms Mills said in a powerful victim impact statement in court.
“I had three surgeries and was on so much medication I could barely stay awake.
“They all thought I was going to die in my first surgery and I felt like a prisoner in my own body.”
Leanne Tyrrell-Raddatz and her two daughters, Lola and Phoebe Tyrrell-Raddatz, were driving home after collecting Lola from a birthday party on February 6, 2021 when a drunk driver struck them.
“He collided into my car, totalling it, crushing me and my daughters inside,” Leanne Tyrrell-Raddatz said.
“I started floating to the white light on four occasions, not knowing what was happening to me and in that exact moment I thought I was going to die.”
After almost 300 people died on Queensland roads in 2022, we look at 10 drivers jailed for dangerous or careless driving causing death or grievous bodily harm.
Brave car crash victims shared their experiences as the drivers responsible for their injuries faced court for their actions.
Samuel Kenneth Koa Potter
A drunk driver who caused horrific injuries to a 18-year-old woman in the car he crashed into was jailed after facing a Logan court.
New Zealand man Samuel Kenneth Koa Potter read a letter of apology in Beenleigh District Court on January 30, 2023 where he spoke of the immense guilt and shame he felt after nearly killing teen Summer Mills.
Potter, 23, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm while adversely affected by an intoxicating substance.
He was sentenced to four years’ jail, to be suspended after serving 14 months actual prison time.
Potter’s driving licence was also disqualified for three years.
Bryce Print
A Logan pool finisher driving three times the legal blood alcohol limit was jailed after he crashed head-on into a family’s car, leaving one member with life-threatening injuries.
Bryce Print, 32, pleaded guilty in Beenleigh District Court in March to dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm while affected by an intoxicating substance.
The court heard the Jacobs Well man was driving on Hein Rd in Buccan on February 6, 2021 when he crossed onto the opposite side of the road and ploughed into a car containing Leanne Tyrrell-Raddatz’s and her two daughters.
His blood alcohol reading was 0.190 per cent.
Print was sentenced to five years jail, suspended after serving 18 months and his licence was disqualified for five years.
Edward Murphy
A motorcyclist who lost eight weeks of memory and was left paralysed has graciously forgiven the elderly drive who struck him in Logan.
Edward Murphy pleaded guilty in Beenleigh District Court to driving without due care or attention causing grievous bodily harm.
The court heard there was no evidence motorcyclist Adam Croton contributed to the crash in any way and Murphy simply did not see the motorcyclist coming as he turned into his path.
Murphy told the court he had not driven since, was extremely regretful of his actions and did not want to drive again in the future.
Magistrate Patrina Clohessy said the crash was serious but Murphy did not do anything illegal while driving.
Murphy received a suspended three-month jail sentence and was disqualified from driving for nine months.
Connor Elliott French
An 18-year-old driver who killed his pregnant passenger and injured another in a 2021 crash after recklessly speeding at 160 km/h in a 70 km/h zone, has been jailed in a Logan court for six years.
Connor Elliott French pleaded guilty in Beenleigh District Court in January to dangerous driving causing death and grievous bodily harm while speeding.
The court heard the Tamborine man was excessively speeding at 166 km/h in a 70km/h zone on Beaudesert road, Windaroo on July 31, 2021.
He lost control and flipped the car, killing 28-year-old pregnant mother Tori-Lee Coggan-Price.
French was sentenced to six years in jail and will be eligible for parole June 30, 2024.
His driving licence was also disqualified for four years.
Yok Tan
The partner of a Loganlea motorcycle rider killed when he was struck by a car has revealed her pain following the sentence of the driver involved, the day before what would have been the father’s 50th birthday.
“His 50th birthday should have been a joyful time but instead it is sad – we were going to try IVF,” former partner Amanda Ross said.
Yok Tan, 68, pleaded guilty in Beenleigh Magistrates Court to driving without due care or attention causing the death of Jason Paul Bennett.
The court heard that on May 24, 2021, Tan was driving on Ellerslie road, Meadowbrook and turned right at a green light as she hit the oncoming 48-year-old Loganlea motorcyclist.
Tan was sentenced to one month in jail, suspended, was disqualified for nine months from driving and a conviction was recorded.
Jillian Phillips
A Slacks Creek woman who caused the death of a young motorcyclist in February last year has been sentenced in a Logan court for the tragic crash.
Jillian Phillips, 65, pleaded guilty in Beenleigh District Court to dangerous driving causing the death of Bethania man Abel Prassler, 30.
Mr Prassler got engaged to girlfriend Sarah Olguin only months before the crash in December, 2020.
Phillips was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in jail with an immediate parole release date.
She was disqualified from driving indefinitely and a conviction was recorded.
Liam Paul Mitchell
A painter who fatally struck a 29-year-old motorcyclist with his Toyota HiLux in Beenleigh in 2020 was sentenced before the victim’s heartbroken mother for the “inexplicable’’ tragedy.
Loved ones, including the devastated parents of fatal crash victim Robert Buchbach, gasped as his name was read aloud in Beenleigh District Court as part of proceedings against driver Liam Paul Mitchell.
Mitchell, 23, of Beenleigh, pleaded guilty on October 31 to dangerous driving causing death.
Mitchell received a two-year suspended jail sentence and was disqualified from driving for 18 months.
Matthew Garry Grimmond
A family will have to cope with the “lifelong consequences” of a devastating motorcycle crash that resulted in the man responsible being jailed in January.
Lowood father-of-four Matthew Garry Grimmond, 39, pleaded guilty in Ipswich Magistrates Court to driving without due care and attention or without reasonable consideration for other persons using the road, causing grievous bodily harm.
He also pleaded guilty to driving over the general alcohol limit but not over the middle alcohol limit, and driving with a defective light.
Grimmond was sentenced to nine months jail, suspended for two years after he serves three months’ actual jail time.
He was disqualified from driving for 12 months and a further one month for driving with alcohol in his system.
Kate Alford
A young woman who caused a high-speed crash that killed her workmate, 23, while drink driving and filming a Snapchat video of herself, spent only three months behind bars.
Kate Ellen Alford, then 19 and on P-plates, had been drinking at a pub before getting behind the wheel of her Toyota Prado to drive herself and Amy Pilgrim 130km back to the cattle station where they worked.
Judge Michael Burnett said a concerned friend who had earlier cautioned Alford about drinking and driving, travelled behind them and said Alford was exceeding the 100km/h speed limit before the crash.
Alford was sentenced to three years’ jail, suspended after three months, after pleading guilty to dangerous driving causing death.
The balance will hang over her head for five years.
Michael Colin Hicks
A Toowoomba man’s dramatic police chase ended when he drove into oncoming motorway traffic and crashed into a $196,000 car, hospitalising both himself and his partner.
Michael Colin Hicks, 30, pleaded guilty in Ipswich District Court in September 2022 to dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm while adversely affected by an intoxicating substance, evading police, driving unlicensed, and obstructing a police officer.
The court heard Hicks, whose licence was disqualified at the time, was seen doing a U-turn at a dead-end street in Loganlea while his partner Alana Marie Knox was in the passenger seat on November 13, 2021.
He accelerated, overtook multiple vehicles, drove across the grass strip dividing the traffic, and drove on the wrong side of the motorway before crashing into a Dodge Ram.
Hicks was sentenced to five years jail, with parole eligibility set for April 13, 2023 and his licence was disqualified for three years.
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