STATE OF TASMANIA v RYAN KEVIN MURFET 19 OCTOBER 2026
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE PEARCE J
Ryan Murfett, you plead guilty to causing death by dangerous driving and causing grievous bodily harm by dangerous driving. At 9.20 pm on 12 October 2023 you were driving your Mitsubishi Triton utility north on Margaret Street in central Launceston towards the intersection with Frederick Street. The speed limit for that street was 50 kph. However, you accelerated to a speed which a witness estimated to be between 90 and 100 kph. Your headlights, although they were operational, were not turned on. As you reached the intersection you faced a red light. It is generally a busy intersection. The cars on Frederick Street also faced a red light. However, the cars opposite you, facing south on Margaret Street, had a green light and a green arrow permitting a right hand turn. You failed to stop and drove into the intersection without braking and while still accelerating. You collided with the front of a vehicle which was two thirds of the way through a lawful right hand turn, across the path of your vehicle. The driver of the other vehicle steered left and sounded his horn. However the combination of circumstances, your speed and acceleration, and your disobedience of the red traffic light, made avoidance of the collision impossible.
The result of the collision was to propel your vehicle, out of control, to the left, towards the west side of the intersection in a clockwise rotation, into the traffic light pole, into a parking sign and then on to the footpath. Tragically, it happened that two men, Kane Morgan and Lance Young, were standing on the footpath at that point. Your vehicle struck both men before coming to rest a further 30 metres up Margaret Street.
Mr Morgan suffered catastrophic head injuries and was killed instantly. Mr Young suffered grievous injuries. He was taken to hospital in a critical condition and placed into intensive care. He had severe blood loss, required urgent resuscitation and intubation. His right arm and right leg were broken and one of the major blood vessels in his left arm was ruptured. He required orthopaedic surgery. While in hospital he developed complications, pneumonia and blood clotting, and was not discharged until almost two months later. Very fortunately, none of the occupants of the other vehicle were injured.
The police review of the crash scene determined that your average speed over the 85 metres prior to the intersection was 77 kph, but that your speed was likely greater at the moment of collision because your vehicle was accelerating.
Following the collision your car was inspected by transport safety officers. It had numerous defects. I also agreed to deal with your plea of guilty to twelve breaches of the Vehicle and Traffic (Vehicle Standards) Regulations 2014. In breach of those regulations, the idler arm of your vehicle had excessive movement, the front park lights were inoperative, the front indicator lenses were faded, the exhaust was defective, the mudflaps were non-compliant, you had modified the height of the vehicle more than 50 mm, the rear wheel track was non-compliant, all tyres exceeded the maximum rolling diameter, the tyre width was excessive, the brake lines were not secured and the windscreen banner was oversize. None of these defects caused or contributed to the collision which arose solely from the manner of your driving, although they do give some indication of your then attitude to road safety.
You also pleaded guilty to one count of operating a vehicle in a public place in a manner that made unnecessary and unreasonable noise, and in an unnecessary execution of acceleration contrary to the Police Offences Act 1935, s 37J(1). The noise arose from your acceleration without a functional muffler and is not, in the circumstances of this case, important or relevant to the death and injury you caused. Your acceleration is relevant to the principal charges, but this separate charge adds nothing to your culpability.
You are now aged 26. You grew up in the Lilydale area and have been industrious since leaving school in year 10. I have been shown many personal references. All of them paint you as a genuine, kind and hardworking person. I have no reason to doubt that it is true. I accept your counsel’s submission that the prospects for your rehabilitation are good. These crimes have already had a significant personal effect on you which tends to reduce the need for personal deterrence, although that of course remains relevant. You have been the subject of condemnation in the community. You were forced to leave the job you held at the time as a metal worker in a foundry. You have already been unable to drive for three years because of a bail condition. That affected your ability to obtain other employment, but you found another job after moving into Launceston. You are in a relationship but you have no children. Since the crimes you have been diagnosed with and treated for ADHD and an adjustment disorder, however there is no evidence that any mental impairment caused or contributed to these crimes or is otherwise relevant to sentence in a legal sense. I am satisfied that you are very sorry for what you have done. It is a theme of the references I was given that you realise the terrible consequences of it and wish to make amends. Regrettably that can never be achieved. Your guilty plea is in your favour. It reflects your remorse and acceptance of responsibility. It also facilitates justice, avoids the need for a trial and spares witnesses from having to recall and give evidence about these traumatic events. It also, however, avoids the risk that you may have been found guilty of the even more serious crime of manslaughter with which you were originally charged. You have been subject to these criminal proceedings and their likely consequences for a considerable period. The plea was entered soon after it was agreed that the charge of causing death by dangerous driving would be substituted for the manslaughter charge.
You were 23 when the crimes were committed. You were thus a relatively young man, but in cases of this nature that consideration assumes less significance. There is a particular need to make clear to young men what the consequences of dangerous driving may be. A young driver assumes the responsibility, like every other driver, of driving safely. Moreover, to the extent that young persons may be more prone to ill-considered or rash decisions when driving, the need for general deterrence directed at others in the same cohort is emphasised rather than reduced.
You have no prior convictions for serious offending, but there are traffic offences which give an indication of your poor attitude to safe driving at the time. On 3 September 2021 you were given an infringement notice for driving between 15 and 22 kph over the speed limit. Then, in the seven month period between 18 January 2023 and 19 July 2023, only months before these crimes, you received five other infringement notices. Three were for speeding, in two cases between 15 and 22 kph over the limit, and in the other case, between 23 and 29 kph over the limit. One infringement notice was for failing to stop at a red light. The result of the accumulation of demerit points would very likely have been that you were already facing a period of licence suspension. Moreover, only five days before these crimes you were given an infringement notice for wheel and tyre defects which you failed to remedy.
Consistent with community concern about crimes involving death and serious injury caused by dangerous driving, it is necessary to impose a sentence which gives weight to general deterrence and reflects society’s condemnation of driving behaviour which has that result. You were not affected by alcohol or drugs. You were not attempting to avoid the police. As far as I have been informed it was not a prolonged episode of dangerous driving. It was not asserted that you deliberately attempted to run a red light. However the absence of aggravating factors such as those does not mean that these were not serious crimes. Your speed and acceleration were, at that time and in that location and in those circumstances, obviously excessive. Combined with the inattention which led to you accelerating through a red traffic light when another car was already moving through a busy intersection, your driving was very dangerous. There is a need to punish, condemn and discourage dangerous driving. As this case tragically demonstrates, the inherent nature of motor vehicles is such that, driven dangerously, they pose a high risk of causing death and serious injury. To draw upon the words of the Attorney-General in 2017, unsafe driving has significant social, health and economic consequences for individuals and the Tasmanian community and an obvious and terrible physical and emotional effect on those directly involved, as well as family, friends, witnesses, emergency services personnel and hospital staff.
The direct consequences of your dangerous driving are the loss of Mr Morgan’s life and terrible injuries to Mr Young. The indirect consequences extend further. I have heard moving victim impact statements about the effect of Mr Morgan’s death on his family. I also have a victim impact statement from Mr Young. His injuries will directly and permanently affect him and his family.
No sentence of whatever length can undo or make up for the harm which has been done.
Ryan Murfett, I record that you were also subject to complaint 33289/2024. Counts 1 and 2 on that complaint were subsumed by an indictment which has been discontinued. Counts 3 and 4 on that complaint have already been dismissed. You are convicted on both counts on indictment 264/2026 and on complaint 31771/24, counts 4 to 16 inclusive. I make a compensation order in favour of Mikayla-Lee Lincoln and adjourn the further terms of that order to a date to be fixed. Counts 1, 2 and 3 on the complaint are dismissed. As I have already explained, the noise and acceleration count, count 4, adds nothing to your overall criminal culpability. Each of counts 5 to 16 are punishable by fine only and do not attract demerit points. Because of the sentencing orders I am about to make on the indictment I make no further order on any of those counts on the complaint. On the indictment I impose one sentence. You are sentenced to a term of imprisonment of three and a half years from 15 October 2026, the day you were remanded in custody. I order that you not be eligible for parole until you have served half of that term. You are disqualified from driving for two years from your release. Any driver licence you have is cancelled.