‘Most hated man in Australia’: Pusey’s lawyer says Porsche driver has served enough jail time

The day after filming four dying police officers on the Eastern Freeway, Porsche driver Richard Pusey admitted the things he had said were “highly offensive”.

Pusey has pleaded guilty to outraging public decency and other charges after using his phone to record three minutes and eight seconds of footage on April 22 last year after a truck crashed into the officers in Kew.

The hatred and condemnation directed towards Pusey since then prompted a judge to describe him on Wednesday as “probably the most hated man in Australia”.

Pusey, 42, gave a commentary to his footage and parts of what he said were aired in the County Court, where the public gallery was full of the officers’ families and other police.

One officer walked out as prosecutor Robyn Harper detailed what Pusey said, although the footage itself was not played to the court. Pusey appeared via video link from jail.

“That is f---ing justice. Absolutely amazing, that is f---ing amazing,” Pusey says as he films a damaged police car.

Senior Constable Kevin King (left), Constable Josh Prestney, Leading Senior Constable Lynette Taylor and Constable Glen Humphris were killed on the Eastern Freeway.

Then, while filming the truck, he says: “Look at that man, you f---ing c---s. You c---s, I guess I’ll be getting a f---ing Uber home, huh.”

Leading Senior Constable Lynette Taylor, Senior Constable Kevin King and constables Glen Humphris and Josh Prestney were all hit and killed when a truck driven by Mohinder Singh, addled by drug use and fatigue, veered into the emergency lane at 5.36pm.

The officers had pulled Pusey over after detecting his Porsche speeding at 149km/h. He was at the side of the road urinating when the truck hit the officers and the three stationary vehicles. Uninjured, he filmed the scene and fled.

Judge Trevor Wraight acknowledged the public outrage directed towards Pusey since his offending. “They have demonised him to the point where he is probably the most hated man in Australia,” Judge Wraight said.

Constable Josh Prestney’s parents, Belinda and Andrew, arrive at the County Court on Wednesday.Credit: Eddie Jim

But defence counsel Dermot Dann, QC, said the extra-curial punishment Pusey had endured, his guilty plea and his mental health problems meant he should not serve any more jail time.

“Mr Pusey has in fact spent long enough in custody,” Mr Dann said, calling for his client to be put on a community correction order.

Pusey has served nine months since the crash and pleaded guilty to speeding, reckless conduct endangering life and possessing a drug of dependence, alongside the rare charge of outraging public decency, which carries a discretionary penalty.

Mr Dann said Pusey has struggled for years with antisocial and borderline personality disorders and since the crash had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.

Ms Harper called for more jail time, argued Pusey’s moral culpability was high and said his actions were deliberate, rational and callous and “deprived the officers of the dignity they deserved in their final moments”.

“To video record anyone in their dying moments and after death is a serious example of offensive behaviour,” she said. “It is repugnant, it is abhorrent, the adjectives flow.”

Pusey filmed the officers’ injuries and at one point filmed Leading Senior Constable Taylor and said, “There you go.”

He also refused requests by other motorists to help treat the officers and continued filming when told not to.

Prosecutors accept Pusey was not taunting the dying officers.

That evening he showed the footage to staff at a medical clinic and a pharmacy – acts Mr Dann attributed to shock – and sent photographs to police officers he knew.

The next day, Pusey initially asked investigators if they could watch his footage without the sound and conceded his commentary was inappropriate.

The vision, he told police, “shouldn’t be seen as being derogatory and horrible ... it is, but that’s how shit comes out of my head. I’m highly offensive”.

Pusey’s complex and enduring personality problems meant he had a problem with authority, Mr Dann said, and a long history of conflict with others.

Among the finance broker’s past offending are convictions over an altercation with a girlfriend, a stint in jail for releasing gas from a bottle at a pub where he was refused service and abusing a flight attendant.

He also has a history of speeding and driving offences. A month before the crash, the court heard, he boasted of speeding at 300km/h along the Eastern Freeway.

Despite the apparent lack of humanity, Pusey was ashamed about the footage, Mr Dann said, wanted to apologise to the officers’ families and his guilty plea spared the case dragging through the courts.

Pusey will be assessed for a community correction order before his April 28 sentence.

He is also due to appear before a magistrate in coming weeks, including for a charge where he allegedly put a noose around a woman’s neck.

Singh is awaiting sentence on four counts of culpable driving causing death.