Danny ‘Skids’ Collins avoids jail over death of Clint ‘Clunker’ Donaldson in Gorokan on appeal
The man who ran over and killed a popular surf lifesaver on the Central Coast will not see the inside of a jail cell, after his sentence was downgraded at an appeal hearing. A judge has revealed her reasons behind the decision.
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Danny Lee Collins, the man who ran over and killed Clint ‘Clunker’ Donaldson outside his home in Gorokan, has dodged a full time jail sentence.
Mr Collins, 28, had his original jail sentence of 12 months downgraded to a 12 month Intensive Corrections Order (ICO) at an appeal hearing in Gosford District Court on Tuesday.
An ICO is considered by the court as a full time custodial sentence served in the community.
Mr Collins, known to friends as “skids”, was behind the wheel of a gold Ford Falcon XR6 when he struck Mr Donaldson, 47, at 6.30pm on November 22, 2018 on Marks Rd in Gorokan.
He pleaded guilty to negligent driving causing the death of Mr Donaldson – a father of two and long time member of Soldiers Beach Surf Club.
Gosford District Court Judge Jennie Girdham downgraded the sentence, however upheld the conviction, the two year driver’s licence disqualification and ordered Mr Collins to serve 100 hours of community service.
The agreed set of facts state Mr Collins was driving in a 50km/h speed zone down Marks Rd when the setting sun blinded his vision. A witness said he saw the Donaldson’s family dog run in the middle of the road being chased by Mr Donaldson.
Judge Girdham described the offence as failing to keep a proper lookout for 89m – 6.4 seconds – with substantial impairment of vision, resulting in striking and killing Mr Donaldson.
“Death occurred as a result of a serious breach of management of a vehicle,” she said.
She told the court Mr Collins, a father of three, had a traffic record which did not help his case or entitle him to leniency.
However, she said Mr Collins had shown remorse and pleaded guilty at the first possible occasion. He also stopped and assisted Mr Donaldson on November 22, 2018, until the ambulance arrived.
Mr Collins’s employer gave him a reference which indicated he had matured and grown as a tradesman, while feeling the burden of his offence “very badly”.
Judge Girdham was satisfied Mr Collins had shown “general remorse and attrition” and said he had a low to medium risk of reoffending.
“In my opinion an ICO is more likely to address the risk of reoffending,” she said. “ He has clearly progressed since the offence.”
When Mr Collins was originally sentenced in December 2019, he wept as the court heard the impact statement of Mr Donaldson’s wife Renea.
The statement described how Mrs Donaldson went outside to find her husband bleeding in the gutter with “part of his brain extruding from his skull”. She has been haunted by the image of her husband’s last moments since that day.
“Every day I live that moment over and over again. The vision never leaves me. It was the driver’s fault … it was because of his negligence that my husband died that afternoon. I have to live with never being able to say goodbye to him.”
After the statement was read, Mr Collins gave an emotional apology to the family saying “it
should have been me that day, no one else”.
“I think about his children and how my children would be if I died. Every day I think about what I did to Mr Donaldson. I don’t deserve to be alive for it.”
The ICO will expire on February 3 2021.