Justin Lynch sentenced over Paul Brock’s death in Lucas Heights crash
Beloved bus driver, father and husband Paul Brock lost his life in a devastating fatal crash in Sydney’s south. Now, the drug-affected disqualified driver responsible has been sentenced.
St George Shire Standard
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A disqualified driver who was high on ice when he caused a fatal crash in southern Sydney which claimed the life of a beloved local bus driver has been sentenced to jail.
Paul Brock, 63, was killed in a three-car smash on Heathcote Rd in Lucas Heights on January 5 by Justin Lynch, 27.
Lynch was affected by ice and Xanax and does not remember anything about the crash or how he was driving except being cut from his seatbelt and pulled from his car.
He pleaded guilty at Downing Centre District Court to dangerous driving causing death, driving disqualified and driving under the influence of drugs and was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison, with a non-parole period of two years and three months.
He will be eligible for parole on July 11 2022 and will then serve a two-and-a-half year driving disqualification.
Mr Brock’s daughter Erin Robertson, 29, was in the nearby traffic when the fatal crash tragically claimed her father’s life.
Mrs Robertson revealed her mother Diane has since died, lost without her late husband’s devoted care.
“My beautiful devoted dad was also the primary carer for my mother,” Mrs Robertson wrote in a victim impact statement read aloud on her behalf by a Mission Australia representative.
“Without him, she also passed away, which is why I find it impossible to be here in person today.”
The Heathcote father of two was a popular local bus driver whose death devastated the Sutherland Shire community.
Lynch, who has been in custody since the fatal crash, suffered a fractured spine, internal injuries that required the removal of part of his bowel in the crash, and a fractured right heel.
He spent six months in Long Bay Hospital Jail and still has screws and rods in his back which corrected the spinal injury.
He had lost his licence over a similar incident in August 2017 when he hit the median strip, swerved into oncoming traffic and hit an oncoming car while he was high range drink driving on a major road in Miranda.
“It’s hit me hard,” Lynch told the court at his sentencing.
“I’ve realised all the bad decisions I’ve made and I never want to do anything like that again.”
Mrs Robertson said she now has to wear a dental guard because she grinds her teeth with stress, and that she sobs through regular appointments with a remedial massage therapist due to bodily pain.
“My heart, my soul, my body aches for my dad and now also my mum,” Mrs Robertson wrote.
“I have not slept through the night since, and my body is in physical pain - I never know when grief is going to jump up and grab me by the hair, rendering me completely useless for the rest of the day.”
Mrs Robertson also said Mr Brock’s dog is pining for his late owner and constantly looking for him.
“My dad was the most beautiful, most caring, devoted and hardworking man that I’ve ever met,” she wrote.
“It makes me so incredibly sad to know his life was taken from him so cruelly.”
Lynch’s sentence formally begins in April 2020 after he completes his prison sentence for a separate drug supply matter which was finalised earlier this year.