County Court: Octogenarian truly remorseful for his action that tragically killed an 81-year-old

Deeply remorseful 83-year-old driver learns his fate in court after a horrific carpark incident at a Doncaster East carpark led to the death of an elderly man.

Brian Antonie to community corrections order in the County Court for dangerous driving causing death.

An elderly man has quit driving after a “momentary lapse of judgment” caused him to reverse his ute over a man almost the same age and dragged him almost 50m, killing him.

Brian Antonie’s “unblemished past” devoid of any criminal and traffic offence, coupled with his genuine remorse, saw him sentenced in the Victoria County Court to a community corrections order for three years.

Antonie, 83, who grew up in Strathmore, earlier pleaded guilty to one charge of dangerous driving causing death and appeared for sentencing this week.

Antonie reversed his Holden Commodore ute into 81-year-old Trevor Drew in the Dan Murphy carpark at Doncaster East on June 30 last year.

The tragedy unfolded after Antonie had finished shopping and got back into his ute, while Mr Drew was carrying a trolley of packaged alcohol to his vehicle.

Mr Drew was caught under the ute and dragged 49m from where he’d first been hit. People rushed to his aid but he died at the scene.

“Your driving resulted in the death of Mr Trevor Drew, a much-loved husband, father, stepfather, grandfather and friend,” Judge Robyn Harper said during sentencing.

“No sentence can compensate for his family’s loss, and you’ll have to live with the consequences of your driving for the rest of your life.”

Trevor Drew was hit by the ute in a Dan Murphy carpark / David Geraghty

She said Mr Drew’s family could not say goodbye to a much-loved participant in family and community life.

“Any offending involving death such as this is of utmost gravity. True though it is that there were no aggravating features such as drug or alcohol use, speed or distraction, a life has been lost,’’

Judge Harper said the consequences of Antonie’s momentary lapse of judgment had been nothing short of catastrophic for all involved; however, there was no malice involved.

She said there was no question that had he seen Mr Drew, he would have stopped.

“There are substantial and compelling circumstances that are exceptional and rare that justify a non-custodial sentence,” Judge Harper ruled.

“You have no criminal record, or traffic history, there are no aggravating features of your driving, and the burden of imprisonment on you would be substantial.

“More significantly, there’s a concession from the prosecution that your moral culpability is at the lowest end. I consider that specific deterrence is of minimal relevance to you. You have an unblemished past and have now ceased driving.”