Teen sentenced over deaths of Kate Leadbetter and Matthew Field
The teen who took the lives of young parents-to-be when the stolen car he was driving crashed into them while he was high, drunk and on a suspended licence has been jailed for 10 years. But, in a cruel twist, he will be released on the sixth anniversary of the horror incident.
Police & Courts
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The teenager behind the wheel of a stolen car that slammed into a young couple as they walked their dogs has been sentenced to 10 years in prison, but he will be released after he has served six years behind bars.
Matthew Field and his pregnant partner Kate Leadbetter were killed when the drunk and high 17-year-old ran a red light in a stolen car, crashing into a truck.
The collision caused the stolen four-wheel-drive to roll, striking the couple as they walked across an intersection at Alexandra Hills on Australia Day last year.
Justice Martin Burns said there was no sentence he could impose that would ever seem adequate in the face of the loss of life and the grief and sorrow the teenager had caused.
He said words could never to justice to the horror of the couple’s final moments shown in the confronting video footage of the incident played during his sentence in the Brisbane Supreme Court.
The sentence means the teen will be released from prison on Australia Day 2027, taking into account the time he has already served in prison.
Justice Burns said the teenager, who will turn 19 in July, had suffered a prejudicial upbringing in which he was exposed to drug use and domestic violence, was left unfed, and he began self-harming at age nine.
“You started consuming alcohol at 12 years of age, MDMA at 13 and amphetamines at 14,” Justice Burns said.
“The absence of any proper parental care saw you frequently absent from school and running away and living between friends’ houses, if not in parks.
“ … you spent time with other vulnerable disconnected youths using most of your time seeking, using or coming down from drugs and engaged in crime to obtain drugs and food.”
He said a medical report before the court expressed the opinion the defendant remained a “highly vulnerable young man” who suffered from symptoms consistent with a complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder arising from childhood trauma, a substance misuse disorder currently in remission and an adjustment disorder with mixed anxiety and depressed moods.
“Since being taken into detention following the commission of these offences you have demonstrated in several different ways an appropriate degree of insight into your offending and … a genuine remorse and shame,” Justice Burns said.
The court heard the teen had since completed his Grade 12 education in detention, along with a number of other courses to assist with finding employment when he is released.
Justice Burns had found that the teen’s offending had been particularly heinous, which would have allowed him to impose a sentence higher than the ordinary maximum of 10 years imprisonment for a juvenile offender.
“It should be said at the outset that no sentence I can impose will ever seem adequate in the face of loss of life and the irremediable grief and sorrow that you have caused,” Justice Burns said.
“I have read the submission made by Mr Fuller QC on behalf of the crown that words cannot do justice to the horror of what the footage played in court described. Nor can any words from me do justice for the suffering you have caused to the families of Ms Leadbetter and Mr Field.
“The devastating effects of all of this on the members of those families, parents, siblings and partners who bravely sat in that witness box yesterday and spoke provided us all with a window into the depth of their grief.
“But of course this proceeding will do nothing to end their grief, you have left them with that for the rest of their days. As Ms Leadbetter’s mother said, there is a gaping and unbearable hole in their everyday existence.”
The child would ordinarily have to serve 70 per cent of that sentence unless the court finds there are special circumstances.
Justice Burns found there were special circumstances in this case and instead ordered he serve 60 per cent, taking into account the defendant’s remorse, plea of guilty, and steps taken to rehabilitate.
Justice Burns detailed the teen’s offending on the day of the crash, saying he had been drinking heavily before he stole a Toyota Landcruiser about 5pm and went on a rampage of dangerous driving, ending “about 20 minutes later in the heart-rending death of an innocent young couple”.
“They were engaged to be married and expecting the birth of their first child, a son who would have been named Miles. Ms Leadbetter was 24 weeks in term,” he said.
“You stole a late-model four-wheel-drive motor vehicle from a house in Cleveland and then drove it so dangerously over a sustained period of around 20 minutes, including driving at extreme speeds, colliding with another vehicle, driving along the wrong side of the road after mounting a median strip, and weaving through traffic without any regard for the safety of anyone on or about the road that something like the terrible tragedy which unfolded must be seen to have been an almost inevitable consequence.
“As to that you drove at high speed through a busy intersection against the red light and in the face of traffic moving laterally ahead of you before colliding with the cabin of a truck. The car you were driving left the roadway, rolled through the air and struck Ms Leadbetter and Mr Field. They died instantly.
“You then fled the scene and attempted to steal another car but you were apprehended nearby a short time later.”
The court heard data from the stolen car showed it was travelling at 102kmh in a 70kmh zone just five seconds before the crash and 79kmh when the impact occurred.
The force of the crash pushed the tow truck into a second car, the occupiers of which, another couple and their four-year-old child, all had to be taken to hospital.
The teen’s blood alcohol level was estimated to be between 0.151 and 0.192 per cent at the time of the crash.
“Unlike the many road users and bystanders who rushed to the aid of Ms Leadbetter and Mr Field before first responders arrived, you jumped out of the Landcruiser and ran away,” Justice Burns said.
“At least one person yelled at you not to run, but run you did.”
In addition to the term of imprisonment, the defendant was disqualified absolutely from holding a driver’s licence.
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