Geoffrey Braszell faces Ballarat court over crash at Burrumbeet intersection

A former Victorian prison worker has been sentenced for causing a crash at an infamous intersection that left one victim a quadriplegic.

The Ballarat CFA responded to a crash at Avenue and Hendersons Rd, Burrumbeet on June 5, 2023. Picture: Ballarat Fire Brigade CFA / Facebook

A former prison worker who caused a crash at a notorious intersection west of Ballarat injuring three people, leaving a man a quadriplegic, has escaped a jail sentence.

Geoffrey Braszell, 69, was sentenced at Ballarat Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday to a three-year community correction order having earlier pleaded guilty to two counts of dangerous driving causing serious injury and one of recklessly causing injury.

The court heard Braszell, an employee of Langi Kal Kal Prison, had been detoured off the Western Highway at Burrumbeet while heading to work on June 5, 2023 when he drove past a give way sign and into the intersection of Ave and Hendersons Rds.

While travelling between 60km/h and 93km/h, he hit a vehicle, which he said he did not see coming, and injured three victims.

One is now a quadriplegic and one has chronic pain; another suffered bruising of the spleen at the time.

One victim had not been wearing a seatbelt.

The court heard it was Braszell’s first car accident and that he saw only trees and shadows before the crash.

Braszell retired early as a result of the incident.

In a letter to the court, he expressed “deep shame and regret”.

He was convicted and ordered to do 300 hours of unpaid community work.

He was also disqualified from driving for two years.

The state fovernment has allocated $944,000 for the installation of splitter islands, rumble strips, raised safety platforms, and better signs and lighting at the Burrumbeet intersection.