Sonny Hancox: Waterview Heights man sentenced for crash which killed Robert Walton

A Clarence man has been sentenced over a tragic car crash which occurred only 100 metres from his home and killed a 53-year-old motorcyclist.

Robert Walton, 53, died when his motorcycle and a Holden Commodore collided on the Gwydir Highway at Waterview Heights in August, 2017.

It should have been an ordinary day for a Clarence man returning from work.

But in a split second everything would change for Waterview Heights man Sonny Hancox, when he went to turn off the Gwydir Highway and a motorcyclist “came out of nowhere”, crashing into his car.

The motorcyclist, 53-year-old Robert Walton, died while being taken to Grafton Base Hospital on August 28, 2017.

It’s been six years since that tragic crash.

After four abandoned trials and lengthy negotiations, Hancox, 48, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving occasioning death, while driving under the influence of cannabis.

Sonny Hancox leaving Grafton District Court.

In Grafton District Court on Thursday, Judge Clive Jeffreys handed down his verdict.

The court heard the crash occurred at 9.15am when Hancox was returning from the job he had setting up Farmer Lou’s, a popular South Grafton grocery store.

As he went to turn off the Gwydir Highway and onto Hillview Dr, Mr Walton’s motorcycle “came out of nowhere”, according to Hancox, and crashed into his car.

Judge Jeffreys said analysis of the crash scene showed Mr Walton was driving between 109 to 113 km/h on the 100 km/h stretch of road, while Hancox’s car was “barely moving”.

When police arrived they found Hancox crying and in a state of shock.

He told officers he used cannabis regularly and had smoked on the Saturday of the weekend before the collision, and possibly on the Sunday too.

Judge Jeffreys said although it was “impossible” to determine exactly how affected Hancox would have been from the cannabis, he was impaired at the time of the collision.

The scene of the crash on the Gwydir Highway at Waterview Heights.

The court also heard Hancox has significant health issues.

He started suffering chronic joint and bone pain when he was 12-years-old, and soon after, turned to smoking cannabis.

It was only after the crash that Hancox was diagnosed with systemic lupus.

Tragically, in 2019, Hancox’s first wife died of lung cancer.

He has since remarried and has two children with his new partner.

The court heard Hancox had shown “deep contrition” and was diagnosed with PTSD since the fatal crash.

Judge Jeffreys read from previous testimony where Hancox said he couldn’t return to the site of the crash for a year, despite it being 100 metres from his home.

But after one year, Hancox put a cross at the crash site with Mr Walton’s name on it.

“I think about this accident constantly, I often wake in the night in cold sweats and break into tears,” Hancox previously said.

He also described the accident as “like a bad dream which has changed my life and many other lives forever.”

Judge Jeffreys convicted Hancox and sentenced him to a 20-month intensive corrections order.

He is also disqualified from driving for 18 months.