An unlicensed and drug-affected driver who mowed down five pedestrians, killing two young brothers, has been jailed for at least nine years.
Jacob Steven Donn had been performing fishtails in a red Holden Commodore and continued even after the bumper was torn and before he crashed into the group returning from the local swimming pool.
“The message must be sent to our community in clear and unequivocal terms that cars are not playthings,” said Judge Craig Smith in the Dubbo District Court on Friday.
Finding the 27-year-old had been driving dangerously “for his own amusement”, he jailed him for 13 years with a non-parole period of nine years.
Guilty plea
Donn pleaded guilty to the the manslaughter of the Shorey brothers, Shane, 7, and Sheldon, 6, on January 5, 2021, as they walked home from the Wellington pool in the NSW central west.
He also pleaded guilty to aggravated dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm to the boy’s mother, Shayleen Frail and to a boy whose leg had to be amputated.
He admitted a fifth charge of wanton driving occasioning bodily harm to another young boy.
Donn, who had never held a licence, was found to have five drugs in his system including methamphetamine and heroin.
He had stopped the car when the bumper was torn, but then resumed doing fishtails when it skidded out of control, hit a brick wall and continued along the footpath colliding with the victims.
A mother’s worst nightmare
“Shayleen Frail saw the vehicle coming towards them and tried to throw the children out of the way but she didn’t have enough time,” the judge said.
In her victim impact statement, Ms Frail said no parent should have to bury a child, but she had to bury two.
The brothers were living in the Queensland town of Emerald with their father Joseph Shorey at the time of the crash and were visiting their mother for the school holidays.
The judge said Donn had a profoundly disadvantaged childhood and was introduced to heroin by his own mother at the age of 16.
He clearly was very sorry but his prospects of rehabilitation depended entirely on whether he used illegal drugs and took part in educational programs.
-AAP
