Dad of Annabelle Deall slams ‘insulting’ sentence for killer driver Menour Belkadi
There were emotional scenes outside court on Friday morning as a father reacted to the ‘absurd’ sentence handed out to the driver who hit and killed his daughter.
Central Coast
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The father of a beloved mother-of-four mown down by a speeding driver has slammed her killer’s sentence as “absurd and insulting”.
Menour Belkadi will spend just a minimum of one year and eight months behind bars for ploughing into Annabelle Deall, 32, on a dark winter’s night on August 6, 2016.
Belkadi, 25, was facing a maximum 10 years jail after pleading guilty to dangerous driving occasioning the death of Ms Deall at Terrigal.
But Judge Sarah Huggett handed down a maximum term of just two years eight months, saying that no sentence could “measure the value” of the mother-of-four’s life but a “distressed” Belkadi had lived with the guilt of that night for more than three years.
Outside court Ms Deal’s father David King delivered a powerful statement, saying he hoped Belkadi’s term of imprisonment would give him insight into the gravity of his actions.
“To suggest that this in any way compensates for the loss of our daughter is both absurd and insulting,” he said.
Mr King said the lack of a trial meant evidence and testimony given by Belkadi was not tested.
“Only Mr Belkadi and others in his car know what really happened that night. The manner and the speed of driving,” the respected doctor said.
“Annabelle was an exceptional person and we continue to gain strength from, and be inspired by, the way she lived her life.
“We miss her daily.”
Belkadi, who had previously lost his license in both NSW and Queensland, had admitted to speeding in his black Mazda RX on the Scenic Highway when he came over a crest and saw Ms Deall and two of her friends standing in the middle of the lane.
She had been walking to a 7.30pm dinner reservation at The Cowrie restaurant when Belkadi’s car approached from her right-hand side.
He swerved across double white lines onto the wrong side of the road at the same time she and pregnant friend Meagan Darling made the decision to jump into the far lane.
The third woman, Melissa Wilkinson, remained rooted to the spot.
The car hit Ms Deall, vaulting her over the vehicle and killing her instantly, the court heard.
Ms Darling spent three days in hospital having also been struck.
Belkadi’s passenger Hamish Fisher was injured when Ms Deall’s head collided with his hand as she was thrown over the car.
Judge Huggett said the then 22-year-old Belkadi “did not intend to kill Annabelle or anyone that night” but he had made a decision that was dangerous and presented “real risks”.
“Tragically some of these risks were realised ... (taking away) a much-loved woman from her family well before her time,” she said.