Eastern Fwy truck driver who crashed into four on-duty police officers has sentence slashed
The truck driver who hit and killed four on-duty police officers in the 2020 tragedy will be freed early — this is why.
Police & Courts
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The truck driver who crashed into four on-duty police officers on the Eastern Freeway while drug-affected and sleep-deprived has had his prison sentence slashed after agreeing to testify against his boss.
Mohinder Singh, 47, hit and killed police officers Lynette Taylor, Glen Humphris, Josh Prestney and Kevin King on April 22, 2020 after veering his truck into the emergency lane where the officers were standing.
Singh, of Cranbourne, was drug-affected, had slept for just five hours in three days and believed a witch was chasing him in the lead-up to the horror crash.
But in a stunning decision on Thursday, the Court of Appeal reduced the sentence by four years, ordering Singh be eligible for parole after serving 14½ years. Singh also had his maximum sentence of 22 years reduced to 18½ years.
Police Association boss Wayne Gatt said many in Victoria Police would find the judgement by the court “difficult to grapple with”.
“This man may now be afforded additional days of freedom,” Mr Gatt said in a statement on Thursday.
“Not a single extra day can be added to the lives of our four fallen members.
“That is something many police will find difficult to grapple with,” he said.
The judgement came after the truckie launched an appeal against his two-decade prison stint last month, arguing it was “manifestly excessive”.
Among the appeal arguments, Singh argued sentencing judge Justice Paul Coghlan failed to give sufficient weight to Singh’s early guilty plea nor did he take into account Singh’s moral culpability for his decision to drive on the day in question.
Defence barrister Peter Morrissey SC had also argued Justice Coghlan had failed to give enough weight to his client’s undertaking to give evidence against his trucking boss, Simon Tuteru.
Mr Tuteru, the Victorian manager of Connect Logistics, is due to face trial later this year on four counts of manslaughter by criminal negligence after prosecutors argued he should never have allowed Singh to get behind the wheel on the day of the crash because of his fatigue. The Court of Appeal on Thursday granted Singh’s appeal only on the ground Singh had been deprived of the benefit of the undertaking because it was only offered by the prosecution after he was sentenced.
CCTV footage along the Eastern Freeway showed Singh’s refrigerated delivery truck repeatedly drifting into the emergency lanes and veering across lanes without indicating before the deadly crash.
A witness driving near the truck remarked to his mother: “this dude’s going to f---ing kill someone”.
Singh did not react or brake until after the moment of impact with the officers, who were standing in the emergency lane after pulling over Porsche driver Richard Pusey for speeding.
Chief Crown Prosecutor Brendan Kissane, QC, had argued at the July appeal the decision to drive “was ultimately that of (Singh) and there is no external circumstance … which reduces his culpability in that regard”.
The court heard the sentence was one of the longest imposed in Victoria for the offence.
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