Ice-affected driver gets nearly 3yrs jail for head-on at Kulnura

A RECOVERING ‘ice’ addict who left his unrestrained infant son and another driver both paralysed when he ploughed into an oncoming ute at Kulnura while off his face will spend a minimum two years and 10 months behind bars.

The man’s blue Mazda 3 was almost unrecognisable after hitting the utility. Picture: Waide Maguire.

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A RECOVERING ‘ice’ addict who left his unrestrained infant son and another driver both paralysed when he ploughed into an oncoming ute at Kulnura while off his face will spend a minimum two years and 10 months behind bars.

The 32-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was sentenced in Newcastle District Court on Friday after pleading guilty to causing bodily harm while in control of a motor vehicle, aggravated dangerous driving under the influence of drugs and failing to restrain his two children.

The former butcher left his Kulnura home about 6am on October 19, 2015, with his son, 2, and daughter, 4, to pick up his fiance and their one-year-old baby from Armidale.

The scene of the 2015 crash. Picture: Waide Maguire.

A witness later told police he “looked out of it” when he overtook her along Peats Ridge Rd.

“I didn’t know if he was drunk, drugs or fatigued,” she said.

As he drove along George Downes Drive about 1.5km south of Spring Rd his Mazda 3 drifted onto the wrong side of the road and ploughed into a fully laden Mazda BT50 utility.

Emergency services working to free the man and his two children from their badly damaged car. Picture: Westpac Rescue Helicopter

The ute driver told police “all of a sudden there was a blue sedan heading straight towards me, completely in my lane. It wasn’t like he was swerving out of control it actually­ looked like he was intending to hit me,” the driver, who was left paralysed, said.

The Kulnura man’s daughter suffered two broken ankles but recovered, however, his son was left a paraplegic.

The man also suffered significant injuries and spent six weeks in a coma.

In his recorded interview the man told crash investigators he strapped the toddler into a baby seat using the adult lap-sash belt instead of the toddler harness because the child kept unclipping himself.

The blue Mazda 3 after the accident at Kulnura. Picture: Waide Maguire.

He also admitted to taking ice four days before the crash with mandatory blood tests revelling he had 0.72mg/L of methylamphetamine in his system at the time — enough, a medical expert said, which would significantly impair his ability to drive safely.

The man later admitted to police in a recorded interview that not strapping his toddler in properly was a “stupid move” and that he “try me hardest but every now and again I slip up” and used ice because he was a long-term addict.

The driver arriving during a previous appearance.

A crash investigator takes measurements.

The man was sentenced to a total of four years and 10 months jail for five offences, with a non-parole period of two years and 10 months.

He was also disqualified from driving for two years.

He will be eligible for parole on July 28, 2020.