Damian Finley pleads guilty to dangerous driving causing serious injury

A Charlemont man’s dangerous drink-driving resulted in a traumatic brain injury and a three-month hospital stay for his older brother, a court has heard.

A Charlemont father has accepted responsibility for a crash that put his brother in hospital for three months with a significant brain injury.

Damian Finley, 30, appeared in the County Court at Geelong on Thursday and pleaded guilty to a single charge of dangerous driving causing serious injury over the September 6 crash last year.

Crown prosecutor Jordan Johnston told the court that on the day of the crash, Finley and his older brother, Brian, both drank alcohol at Finley’s house after finishing work.

They left in Finley’s Holden Commodore wagon, with Brian in the passenger seat, before the Torquay Rd crash happened about 3.15pm.

Damian Finley. Picture: Facebook

After completing a legal U-turn in front of Total Tools, Finley accelerated “excessively”, lost control of the car and slammed into a lightpole in the centre median strip.

The court heard a witness described Finley’s Commodore as “fishtailing” prior to spinning 180 degrees clockwise and colliding with the pole on the passenger side.

After the crash Finley recorded a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.072.

In a police interview, he admitted to drinking “four to five” beers and said he also hadn’t eaten all day.

The father-of-one told police he had been driving to the shop to “get some smokes” and said after the U-turn he “put (his) foot down”.

After being flown to Melbourne, Brian spent three months in hospital, the first in intensive care.

He suffered “substantial” and life-threatening injuries, including a traumatic brain injury and a collapsed lung, and was left with cognitive and speech difficulties.

The white Commodore after the crash. Picture: Alison Wynd

Mr Johnston said while Brian had made “remarkable progress” in his recovery he “may never be the person that he was”.

In a victim impact statement read by Mr Johnston, Brian’s wife Tamara wrote of the profound impact of the accident and told the court that her hopes and dreams of a normal life with her husband were “shattered”.

Mrs Finley, who was six-months pregnant at the time of the accident, wrote of the “immense stress and anxiety” and the court heard their son had been born a month prematurely.

Finley’s lawyer, Briana Proud, asked the court not to jail her client, and instead place him on a community corrections order (CCO) with a Justice Plan.

Ambulance officers at the scene. Picture: Alison Wynd

Ms Proud submitted Finley had pleaded guilty at an early stage, had a mild intellectual disability, no priors of any kind, strong family supports, employment and “excellent” prospects of rehabilitation.

The court heard Finley had a close relationship with his brother that continued, despite the accident.

The brothers were two of eight siblings in a tight-knit family, Ms Proud said, and, in a letter to the court, Finley’s eldest brother said Finley was “hurting” for having injured Brian.

“Damian will continue to feel guilty for the rest of his life,” the brother wrote.

Mr Johnston accepted that Finley’s remorse was genuine, but argued a term of imprisonment was the “only appropriate disposition”.

Judge Gavan Meredith said he would have Finley assessed for a CCO and adjourned the matter to August.

Originally published as Damian Finley pleads guilty to dangerous driving causing serious injury