Daniel Marlow: Ballarat tradie sentenced over crash which killed cyclist Mark Spenceley

A Ballarat tradie who avoided jail after killing a much-loved cyclist says he ‘doesn’t expect any forgiveness’.

A driver who hit and killed much-loved Clunes cyclist Mark Spenceley has apologised to the family of his victim in court, saying his victim didn’t deserve to die in such a tragic death.

Daniel James Marlow, 33, from Black Hill in Ballarat, was on Wednesday convicted of dangerous driving causing death, handed a three year community corrections order with 500 hours of unpaid work and disqualified from driving for 18 months.

In the Ballarat County Court, Marlow, a carpenter and builder, took the unusual step of getting into the witness box and reading an apology to the family of 52-year-old Mr Spenceley.

“No words can express the remorse I have for what I have done,” he said.

“From the bottom of my heart, I am so sorry.”

Marlow said Spenceley “didn’t deserve such a terrible and tragic thing to happen to him, and I don’t expect any forgiveness”.

“I will be trying to make amends for the rest of my life,” he said.

“There is no excuse.”

Creswick CFA captain Mark Spenceley (inset) was hit and killed while out cycling.

Marlow pleaded guilty after Judge Sanda Davis on Tuesday indicated she would not jail him.

Marlow’s barrister told the court his client wrote the moving apology letter in April this year, but had been advised not to give it to Mr Spenceley’s family before his case concluded in court.

She said Marlow had shown remorse, was of good character, was a respected member of the community.

Marlow told police he had turned around to talk to his son in the back seat when he stuck Mr Spenceley from behind while riding along Creswick Road at Clunes in March 2019.

Mr Spenceley was brigade captain of the Creswick CFA, and a stalwart of the local football club.

In the days after his death, the then Hepburn Shire Council mayor Don Henderson told the Hepburn Advocate: “There are many Mark Spenceley’s but without people like Mark in the community it would be a much poorer place.”