Danny Kenneison to remain out of prison after Horsham fatal crash sentence appeal dismissed

A Horsham man says he bears no ill will towards the truck driver responsible for killing his two elderly sisters after the Supreme Court of Appeal upheld a decision to keep him out of jail.

Key points:

• Danny Kenneison drove a cement truck that struck a vehicle stopped at a red light in Horsham
• The Supreme Court of Appeal has dismissed a prosecutor's appeal of the non-custodial sentence
• The brother of two sisters killed in the crash laments the "atrocious" state of regional roads and lack of truck bypasses

Sisters Fay Barber, 79, and Barbara Mackley, 78, were killed when a cement truck driven by Danny Kenneison ran into the back of their car, which was stopped at a red light in October 2021.

Two other women who were also in the car survived.

The court heard Mr Kenneison was momentarily distracted because he was looking at classic cars parked at a roadside motel.

He pleaded guilty to all charges including two counts of dangerous driving causing death, and in April was sentenced by the County Court to a three-year community corrections order and 300 hours of unpaid service.

Prosecutors challenged the decision but it was upheld by the Supreme Court of Appeal last week.

Ms Barber and Ms Mackley's brother, Bruce Meyer, who was not involved in the appeal, said he felt no blame or frustration about it.

"Whatever they do, it's not going to change the situation," he said.

Mr Meyer, a councillor and former mayor of the West Wimmera Shire, said nobody was a perfect driver.

"Things that distract a person's attention will always happen one way or the other," he said.

"I don't think anybody deliberately goes out to hurt anybody."

'Exceptional and rare' circumstances

During the April sentencing, the County Court judge said a combination of mitigating factors was sufficient for Mr Kenneison to avoid jail.

They included his "lowest level possible" of moral culpability and "full, frank, and valuable" assistance to police.

In the Supreme Court of Appeal, prosecutors argued the County Court judge had misapplied legislation demanding "substantial and compelling and exceptional and rare" circumstances to avoid a sentence of imprisonment for dangerous driving causing death.

The prosecutor said the circumstances of Mr Kenneison's crash were instead "essentially run of the mill" and a custodial sentence was required.

In its ruling on Thursday, a panel of Supreme Court justices agreed with prosecutors that "the sentence imposed was wholly outside the range of sentencing options available to the judge".

However, the panel elected not to overrule the sentence last week, saying "the combination of the respondent's exemplary conduct whilst subject to the community corrections order and [need to care for] his young daughter produces a uniquely compelling situation".

The panel noted that in the weeks after sentencing, Mr Kenneison's former partner had a stroke affecting her movement and speech, making him primarily responsible for his daughter's care.

No bypass

Despite holding no frustration over the outcome of the proceedings, Mr Meyer stressed his disappointment with road maintenance funding in regional Victoria.

"The standard of roads is terrible," he said.

"The only way for trucks [to avoid concentrated traffic] is bypasses and in Horsham that's been planned and no-one can seem to come to an agreement on it."

Large trucks are a regular sight on Stawell Road through Horsham, frequently queuing for blocks to turn onto the road at peak times.

A bypass was discussed at length[1] by VicRoads, local government, and the Horsham community in 2015, but is yet to be implemented.

The Victorian Department of Transport and Planning confirmed that between 2018 and 2022, there were 12 crashes on Stawell Road between Osbourne Road and O'Callaghan's Parade in Horsham, including the fatal crash.

A year after the cement truck collision, a Horsham woman was killed in another crash between passenger vehicles only a few hundred metres away on the same road.

"We improved safety in Horsham with the upgrade of the O'Callaghan's Parade roundabout and, since its completion in 2019, we have not had a single casualty crash at the intersection," a department spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said a majority of the £770 million allocated to road maintenance between September 2023 and June 2024 would be spent in regional Victoria where flooding and persistent rainfall had "caused extreme levels of damage".

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References

1. ^ discussed at length (www.abc.net.au)
2. ^ Browse for your location and find more local ABC News and information (www.abc.net.au)