By Kate Hagan
VICTORIA'S Court of Appeal has upheld a 10-year jail term for a man who killed six teenagers in a hit-run collision near Mildura, but his lawyer will consider a High Court challenge over claims the sentence was excessive.
Thomas Towle, 38, was driving at high speed with his four-year-old son on his lap when he lost control and veered into the group of teenagers leaving a 16th birthday party at Cardross at 9.30pm on February 18, 2006.
A Supreme Court jury found him guilty in March last year of six counts of dangerous driving causing death, acquitting him of the more serious charges of culpable driving causing death. He was also convicted of four counts of dangerous driving causing serious injury. Justice Philip Cummins sentenced Towle to 10 years' jail, with a minimum of seven years.
In the Court of Appeal yesterday, President Chris Maxwell and Justices Peter Buchanan and David Ashley said Justice Cummins' sentence was within range and he was entitled to characterise Towle's driving as belonging in ''the worst category of dangerous driving''.
They agreed that an aggravating factor of Towle's offending was his knowledge of the risk, after being warned about the teens by his brother.
''Given Towle's knowledge of the presence of children outside the party house, it was reasonably foreseeable that, if he did not exercise due care, those children might be injured or die,'' the appeal judges said. ''Armed with that knowledge, it was Towle's obligation to drive at such a speed and to maintain such a lookout that he would create no danger for those children. It was clear he failed by a large margin to meet that standard. He simply did not take the care which the circumstances demanded … [and] abandoned responsibility to those likely to be affected by his driving.''
Killed in the crash were Shane Hirst, 16, and his sister Abby, 17, Stevie-Lee Weight, 15, and Cassandra Manners, Cory Dowling and Josephine Calvi, all 16.
The appeal judges also said Justice Cummins was correct to reject a submission that Towle's sentence should not exceed the then maximum five-year jail term for dangerous driving (it has since been increased to 10 years) because the offences arose out of one course of conduct.
They said the law was clear that the judge was bound to take into account the fact that Towle's driving had caused multiple deaths and sets of injuries.
Outside the appeal court in Melbourne yesterday, Towle's lawyer Robert Richter, QC, said he would consider a High Court appeal.