STATE OF TASMANIA v THOMAS AUSTIN ROWLANDS 15 NOVEMBER 2022
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE BRETT J
Mr Rowlands, you have pleaded guilty to one count of causing death by dangerous driving. You have also pleaded guilty to the associated summary offences of driving a motor vehicle while exceeding the prescribed alcohol limit and using an unregistered motor vehicle.
The relevant events occurred in the early hours of Sunday, 31 October 2021. The man whose death was caused by your conduct was your friend Hayden Kennedy. You and Mr Kennedy were among a group of people who were staying in a shack at Ouse for the weekend. The purpose of the gathering was to celebrate the birthday of Mr Kennedy’s cousin. His cousin had recently purchased a new Polaris utility terrain vehicle, and that vehicle was parked at the shack over the weekend. At approximately 1:10am on Sunday, you decided to take the Polaris for a drive along local roads. Mr Kennedy went with you as your passenger. Within 10 minutes of commencing the journey, you crashed the vehicle. Mr Kennedy died as a result of injuries which he sustained in this crash. He was 18 years old at the time of his death.
The crash occurred on a gravel forestry road approximately 400 metres from the shack. Notwithstanding that it is a forestry road, it was, at the relevant time, open to public traffic. An investigation conducted by an appropriately qualified police collision analyst concluded that you lost control of the vehicle when attempting to negotiate a left-hand curve in the road. The result of losing control was that the vehicle crossed onto the incorrect side of the road, broadsided passenger side first and rolled, before finally came into collision with a large tree stump. It is the impact with the stump which caused fatal injuries to Mr Kennedy, as well as catastrophic damage to the vehicle.
The analysis concluded that you travelled into the curve at an approximate speed of 96 km/h, which was in excess of the speed limit of 80 km/h and well in excess of a safe speed having regard to the relevant road conditions. The investigator estimated a safe speed at less than 62 km/h. It is also relevant that the vehicle was in a restricted registration class and not meant to be driven on tracks or roadways at a speed greater 40 km/h. It was also not meant to be driven between sunset and sunrise and, if it was driven, all persons within the vehicle were required to wear helmets. Neither of you were wearing helmets during this journey. You had previously owned a similar vehicle, so it is a reasonable conclusion that you would have been familiar with the vehicle’s limitations.
It is clear that you had been drinking alcohol before taking this vehicle and driving it as you did. It is estimated that your blood alcohol concentration at the time of the crash was between .124 and .231 g of alc/100 ml. The likely reading for a person with average metabolism would have been around .156, that is more than 3 times the legal limit. These estimates are based on a test conducted five hours after the crash, at which time your reading was .076, still well over the legal limit. You have not disputed these estimates.
As is to be expected, Mr Kennedy’s death has devastated his loved ones. I have heard impact statements from his partner and parents. Each has eloquently described the grief, shock and enormous sense of loss resulting from Mr Kennedy’s death. This impact is profound and permanent. I have no doubt that his loss will also significantly impact the lives of many others.
You are 26 years of age. It would seem that your conduct on this night, including your decision to take the Polaris for what amounts in my view, to an alcohol fuelled joyride, was out of character. Your prior convictions consist only of four minor speeding infringements over the last six years. Your counsel described you as a highly motivated successful individual, and this description would seem to be consistent with your occupational history and other pursuits and interests. You are a qualified carpenter and builder and currently employed as an assistant construction manager with a building firm. You are in a stable and loving relationship. There is no doubt that other than for your commission of this crime, you are a person of good character.
I accept that you regret and are truly remorseful for your conduct and its consequences. This is consistent with your early plea of guilty, as well as the psychological report provided to me. That report describes the strong feelings of guilt and distress that you continue to experience over your friend’s death and your role in causing it. In fact, the psychologist has expressed the opinion that you are suffering from symptoms consistent with post-traumatic stress disorder. You are also understandably, very concerned about the impact of the prospective sentence on your partner and family.
Despite these positive aspects of your character and background, ultimately, I regard your conduct as a serious example of this crime. This is not a case where a serious accident resulted from momentary inadvertence or mere negligence. It is abundantly clear that the crash and Mr Kennedy’s death resulted from you driving this vehicle at excessive speed without regard to the road conditions or the capacity of the vehicle, and in circumstances in which your judgment and capacity to control the vehicle were significantly impaired by the alcohol which you had consumed. Clearly, you should not have been driving the vehicle or in fact any vehicle at all, but having decided to do so you then drove it dangerously. It is a matter of great sadness, including to you, that that danger manifested in this fatal crash, but it is frequently the case that driving such as this, particularly by persons who have consumed too much alcohol, ends with death or serious injury. This entire episode and its terrible consequences were completely unnecessary and avoidable. The fact that your conduct may have been out of character is relevant to the need for personal deterrence but otherwise is of little significance to sentence and provides no solace to those who are impacted by Mr Kennedy’s death. No amount of expressions of regret by you, nor anything I can say or do in these proceedings, will restore Mr Kennedy to his loved ones or provide any significant relief for their pain. Understandably in a case such as this, the law requires me, when formulating sentence, to denounce conduct such as this, to emphasise the need to deter others who would act in a similar way, and to vindicate the sanctity of human life. They are the primary sentencing considerations. It follows that the only possible sentence is a significant sentence of imprisonment. However, it is appropriate in my view, to provide the opportunity for release on parole at an early time, in order to reflect your prompt plea of guilty and your prior good character.
I order as follows:
- You are convicted of the crime and offences to which you have pleaded guilty.
- For the crime of causing death by dangerous driving and the offence of driving a motor vehicle while exceeding prescribed alcohol limit, I impose a global sentence of three years’ imprisonment. That sentence will commence from the date you were remanded in custody which is 9 November 2022. I order that you not be eligible for parole until you have served one half of the sentence.
- Further, you will be disqualified from driving for a global term of two years. This disqualification will commence on the date of your actual release from prison.
- For the offence of driving an unregistered motor vehicle, you are fined the sum of $400, which is to be paid within 28 days.