R v Hennessy

[2013] NSWDC 314

District Court

New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation:

R v Hennessy [2013] NSWDC 314

Hearing dates:

22 November 2013

Decision date:

22 November 2013

Before:

Berman SC DCJ

Decision:

Sentenced to imprisonment consisting of a non-parole period of 3 years and a head sentence of 4 years. The offender is disqualified from driving for a period of 5 years

S166 Certificate dismissed

Catchwords:

CRIMNAL LAW - Sentence - Dangerous driving - Heavy vehicle - Distracted whilst driving -Collision with school bus - Death of a child

Legislation Cited:

Crimes (Administration of Sentences) Act 1999

Cases Cited:

R v Jurisic (1998) 45 NSWLR 209
R v Whyte [2002] NSWCCA 343; (2002) 55 NSWLR 252.
WW v The Queen [2012] NSWCCA 165

Category:

Sentence

Parties:

The Crown
Daniel Ronald Hennessy

Representation:

Mr J Stanhope - The Crown
Mr P Harper - The offender
Director of Public Prosecutions
John Anthony Solicitors

File Number(s):

2013/36466

Judgment

1. HIS HONOUR: All of us as drivers have a heavy responsibility when we get behind the wheel. Not to mince words about this, all of us have to do what we can to minimise the risks to other road-users because, as drivers, we are quite capable of injuring or killing another human being. We have to obey the rules not only because we will be punished if we do not but because of the awful consequences that often arise.

1. Those who drive heavy vehicles have an extra onus placed upon them because often they will walk away physically unscathed from collisions where the consequences to others are catastrophic. We have here a case where a heavy vehicle driver did not follow the rules, and acted in a very dangerous way which caused the death of a much-loved young boy.

1. On 10 September 2011 Daniel Hennessy was driving his prime mover. There was no trailer attached but the prime mover is by itself a large and heavy vehicle. He was travelling south intending to go to western Sydney. It was his job to pick up a trailer there and take it elsewhere. He decided that he would detour off the highway in order to avoid traffic build-up around Hexham and Rutherford. That took him to Kelso Street in Singleton.

1. The Crown tendered photographs of that street as well as a DVD showing the path that the offender's vehicle took. Kelso Street is a small suburban residential street. It is a back street. As the offender drove along Kelso Street he would have seen houses to either side. He would have seen intersections. He drove through a school zone. This was the sort of street where people were around. This was the sort of street where the driver of a prime mover needed to pay full attention to what he was doing.

1. Mr Hennessy did not. He says that he became aware that there was a stop sign up ahead. Despite that, as he approached the stop sign, he says he picked up his mobile phone to look…