Macaulay Gray jailed for four-way smash that killed beloved mother, wife
A family was torn apart when a 20-year-old with ice and GHB in his bloodstream caused a horror four-way car crash that killed a beloved mother.
A boy says he knows his mother would be proud of him a year after she was killed in a horrific smash on Melbourne’s Nepean Highway when he was 11.
Rose Kelly was 43 when she died in a four-way crash caused by a then 20-year-old high on GHB and ice on December 5, 2019.
The driver, Macaulay Gray, was sentenced to nine years and four months prison, with five years and eight months non-parole, in the County Court of Victoria on Friday.
He had pleaded guilty to culpable driving causing death and three counts of reckless conduct endangering life.
Judge Kevin Doyle said Mrs Kelly’s young son, Ryan, shared a moving statement with the court.
“His misses his mother every day and wants to tell her about his day and his basketball wins,” he said.
“He knows his mum would be proud of him, for being picked for the basketball team and for doing well in school.”
Mrs Kelly had been her husband Christian Kelly’s “only love”.
After 23 years together they made every decision as a team.
Mr Kelly was worried about being a single parent, Judge Doyle said.
“He knows she is never coming back and they have to continue living,” he said.
Gray had “relatively high” levels of ice and 16mg per litre of GHB in his bloodstream after the crash and was sleep-deprived.
Judge Doyle said a serious collision was “inevitable”.
About 5am the ex-Brighton Grammar student left a venue where he was playing the pokies and started driving to his job as an apprentice carpenter.
Mrs Kelly was driving to work as the director of a community childcare centre when he slammed into her car on the Nepean Highway at Seaford.
In the lead-up to the horror smash, witnesses saw Gray driving “as though he had no control of the car”.
He was seen veering onto the wrong side of the road and swerving from oncoming traffic at the last second.
Another driver called triple-0, telling police he was “scared as f**k”.
“He should not be on the road,” he said.
Another driver saw him “banging on the window” and “going off like a rocket” when the traffic light changed.
“Your behaviour was not normal,” Judge Doyle said.
About 6.30am Gray smashed into one car, throwing it into a spin, before colliding with Mrs Kelly’s car and a third car.
Mrs Kelly’s driver’s side door was sheared off and pushed six metres into the third car from the impact.
She died at the scene.
Gray was seen rolling on the ground, wailing and saying “what have I done?”, Judge Doyle said.
The other two victims were released from hospital without permanent injuries.
Police found a syringe used to ingest GHB, a bag with traces of white powder and three tablets in Gray’s car.
Gray told police his memory of the crash was “spotty” but he could remember the point of collision and “people shouting”.
“You were probably acutely affected by the drugs in your system at the time of driving,” Judge Doyle said.
A doctor told the court that Gray was “incapable of having proper control of a motor vehicle” because of drugs and lack of sleep.
Judge Doyle said Mrs Kelly was an “entirely innocent person” on her way to work.
But he said Gray, now 22, had “genuine remorse” and had engaged in drug and alcohol rehabilitation since the crash.
He said he had a history of psychological problems from childhood, including poor impulse control and poor emotional regulation.
“I expect you will mature over the years you spend in jail and will be a very different person upon release,” he said.
He said Gray had a stable and loving family and had started visiting a priest.
Judge Doyle shared one of Mrs Kelly’s favourite sayings as he read the sentence: “It doesn’t matter that we aren’t wealthy because we are happy.”
He said to Gray, “You will have to live with this forever.”