Nattrass v Police

Nattrass appealed against the sentence imposed by the Magistrate following his guilty plea to aggravated driving without due care, which resulted in the death of a cyclist. The appellant was sentenced to three months imprisonment, suspended, and disqualified from holding or obtaining a driver’s licence for 18 months. The central legal issue was whether the alternative penalty of a fine was available under section 18(a) of the Criminal Law (Sentencing) Act 1988 (SA) and whether the sentence was manifestly excessive. The court had to consider the appellant’s difficulty seeing due to sun glare, his previous conviction for a similar offence, and his 50 years of otherwise incident-free driving. The appellant argued that the need for a driver’s licence for his farming and truck driving businesses, as well as to transport his wife to medical appointments, warranted a merciful approach.

The court reasoned that the Magistrate had no choice but to suspend the appellant’s driver’s licence for a period of at least six months. However, the court found that the Magistrate failed to give sufficient weight to the appellant’s personal circumstances, which justified intervention. The court noted the substantial hardship to the appellant and his wife due to the licence suspension. Consequently, the court decided to reduce the period of licence suspension to the minimum period of six months, starting from 12.01am on 3 July 2008. In all other respects, the sentence imposed by the Magistrates Court was confirmed. The appeal was therefore allowed, and the order for disqualification from holding or obtaining a driver’s licence for 18 months was set aside, being replaced with an order for a six-month disqualification.