Joshua David Halverson, 33, jailed for crash that killed Darren Wright on Old Gympie Road, Burpengary

The friends of a British tourist who was killed in a crash north of Brisbane caused by a former high achieving school captain have slammed his jail sentence.

Joshua David Halverson, 33, failed to notice the car in front of him slowing down as the 80km/h zone became a 60km zone.

A British tourist was enjoying the best day of his trip moments before he was killed in a crash caused by a former high achieving school captain whose sentence has been slammed by the surviving victims.

Darren Wright’s “trip of a lifetime” was cut tragically short while he and his friends Matthew Jennings and Neil Mendham were out motorcycling near Burpengary on May 21, 2023.

Travelling the other way along Old Gympie Road was Joshua David Halverson, 33, who failed to notice the car in front of him slowing down as the 80km/h zone became a 60km zone.

When Halverson did realise he slammed on the brakes but to avoid hitting the car in front swerved over a solid white lane into the oncoming path of the three motorcycles.

He narrowly missed Mr Mendham but struck Mr Wright, who died at the scene, and Mr Jennings “who suffered horrific injuries”, Brisbane District Court heard on Tuesday.

Darren Wright was killed in a collision in May 2023 when dangerous driver Joshua David Halverson struck his motorbike near Burpengary. Picture Supplied

Halverson, who has struggled with drug use since three people died at a festival he was involved in, was found with methamphetamine in his system but wasn’t deemed to be under its influence at the time, the court heard

He pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing the death of Mr Wright and dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm to Mr Jennings.

Crown prosecutor Toby Corsbie said given Halverson’s driving history the crash was inevitable.

Since 2010 he had racked up 53 traffic offences, primarily speeding, and on eight occasions got enough points to be suspended, although there were no previous dangerous driving charges, Mr Corsbie said.

“On one view of it this incident was inevitable,” he said.

Reading his victim impact statement Mr Jennings said the three friends had spent the day riding through the hinterland and were on their way home.

“(Darren) told us … it had been one of the best days of his trip,” he said.

Mr Jennings, who underwent surgery and years of rehabilitation, said he wanted to get across to Halverson the “lives taken, damaged and affected forever”.

“The person responsible has destroyed so much, taken so much away,” he said.

Joshua David Halverson, 33, failed to notice the car in front of him slowing down as the 80km/h zone became a 60km zone.

“What I want them to know is that no apology, no statement of remorse to try and minimise punishment, can ever undo what has been done.”

Barrister Marin Longhurst, instructed by Sibley Lawyers, said his client had been a high achieve school student who went on to run his own company running musical festivals.

When three people died in 2016 he felt “incredibly guilty” and later suffered a relationship break up.

“He’d gone from being a pretty high functioning, successful person to a 1.5 gram a day ice addict,” he said.

Mr Longhust said his client’s offending boiled down to not being attentive enough .

Judge Michael Burnett slammed Halverson for his bad driving record.

“You have demonstrated in your very short life as a driver that you have had complete disregard for the welfare other road users. You’ve had so many speeding tickets it’s beyond a joke,” he said.

Matthew Jennings and Neil Mendham outside the Supreme Court I Brisbane. They lost their good mate Darren Wright in a crash caused by Joshua Halverson at Burpengary. Picture: NewsWire

Judge Burnett found Halverson’s decision to revoke his own bail and commence serving his sentence after pleading guilty early this year reaffirmed his apology.

He said the objective seriousness of the offending was not momentary inattention but something not much greater than that.

“It would have been reasonably foreseeable to you as a driver that the vehicle in front was going to slow down from 80 kilometres an hour to 60 kilometres per hour,” Judge Burnett said.

Halverson was sentenced to four years prison suspended after 10 months at which time he will go on parole for three years. Judge Burnett declared 47 days of pre-sentence custody as time served. Halverson was disqualified absolutely from holding a drivers licence.

Outside court Mr Jennings said the punishment did not fit the crime .

“To get 10 months for everything he’s done the weights are skewed,” he said.