Dale Morgan: Financial planner sentenced over Doncaster hit-run crash

A financial planner drank 10 pints of beer and 10 mixed drinks before he caused a crash at Doncaster then fled, leaving the victim with shocking injuries.

An intoxicated man who drove “like a maniac” in a Doncaster street, smashed into an innocent driver and fled from the scene will spend years behind bars.

Dale Morgan, 50, was sentenced in the County Court this week after earlier pleading guilty to charges including negligently causing serious injury and failing to render assistance after an accident.

The court heard the financial planner had been drinking with friends in Doncaster on the evening of March 21, 2019.

He drank about 10 pints of beer and 10 mixed drinks at the Doncaster Hotel and then offered to drive his friends to the Doncaster Inn when it closed.

There, the group continued drinking until about 12.30am before piling into Morgan’s Audi A4.

Morgan, in the driver’s seat, took off down Victoria Street and after turning into hilly George Street he began to “drive like a maniac” before smashing into the rear of a Mitsubishi Magna.

The court heard the two cars impacted heavily and the severely damaged Magna came to rest more than 180-metres up the road.

But rather than checking on the other driver, who was lying seriously injured in his car, Morgan and one friend fled on foot.

Two of his other friends — one who had a spinal fracture and injured leg and was later hospitalised for five days — remained with the victim at the scene until emergency services arrived.

The victim was horrifically injured. He sustained a broken sternum, head injuries including bruising, a brain bleed and clotting and later had a seizure leading to him being admitted to an intensive care unit and intubated.

He was later placed in an induced coma for surgery.

While the court heard he had largely made a “full recovery”, he required ongoing hospital treatment in the 10 months following the collision.

Police located Morgan at Box Hill three hours after the crash, with a breath test returning a blood alcohol reading of 0.168 – more than three times the legal limit.

During a police interview some weeks later, Morgan said he fled in “panic” and expressed sincere remorse for the pain and suffering he had caused, the court heard.

A police investigator later estimated Morgan had been travelling between 87 and 116km/h in the 60km/h zone at the time of the collision.

The court was also told while he would have been “incapable” of operating a car with the blood alcohol reading he returned hours after the crash, it would have been closer to between 0.197 and 0.255 at the time of the collision – the latter would be more than five times the legal blood alcohol limit.

The victim detailed the physical, social and emotional impacts of the crime in a statement and had expressed gratitude for Morgan’s letter of apology and financial reimbursements, the court heard.

Judge Peter Rozen said numerous character references had been tendered to the court and he accepted Morgan was a man of otherwise good character who was genuinely remorseful, but struggled with an alcohol addiction.

At the time of the collision he was consuming up to 20 standard drinks almost every day.

But Judge Rozen said his decision to drive and the manner in which he drove was “appalling” and involved a high degree of negligence – not only endangering his friends, but also the lives of other road users.

“This is not a momentary lapse of concentration by a young person. It was a wilful and deliberate disregard of the fundamentals of road safety by a mature man with many years of driving and life experience.”

He convicted Morgan on all charges and sentenced to 5 years and 10 months in prison with a non-parole period of 3 years.

He was also fined $500, his licence cancelled and disqualified for three years.

If you or someone you know needs help call Lifeline on 13 11 14, Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636 or Alcoholics Anonymous on 1300 222 222