Death driver free
No jail or conviction for teen who killed young couple
A TEENAGE boy who killed two young sweethearts in a horrific crash north of Townsville is believed to have fallen asleep at the wheel before his vehicle slammed head on into the couple.
The Gulliver boy, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was driving from Cairns to Townsville after attending a music festival the day before.
Sleep-deprived after a night of revelry and drug taking, the then-17-year-old made the fatal decision to embark on the four-hour journey home.
He pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing two deaths but the teenager, who will turn 19 in months, will not spend any time behind bars.
Crown
Prosecutor
Nigel
Rees said the young man declined an offer to spend the night with a friend before he set off, driving south on the Bruce Highway on October 27, 2019.
About 60km into the journey his white Hilux Ute crossed double white lines and smashed into a sedan travelling in the opposite direction at Babinda, about 7.30pm.
The now 18-year-old faced Townsville District Court yesterday where he was sentenced for dangerous operation of a vehicle causing death, possessing dangerous drugs and authority required to possess an explosive.
The collision claimed the lives of 16-year-old Lauren Quabba and her boyfriend Evan Fielder, who had just celebrated his 19th birthday.
Detailing the facts of the case, Mr Rees said bystanders were first on scene and called emergency services but there were “no signs of life” from Lauren and Evan’s car.
The young lovers had been on their way to Lauren’s home after spending the day together. Lauren had texted her mother to tell her she was on her way home.
Mr Rees said the defendant “crawled” from his ute and asked the bystanders if anyone else had been injured before he was flown to Cairns Hospital for emergency medical treatment.
Blood tests found he still had MDMA in his system.
Defence barrister Claire Grant described the case as “distressing” and said that the teen’s life had changed in an “irrevocable” way since his actions led to the “untimely” and “avoidable” loss of two lives.
She said her client had little recollection of what happened and had taken drugs the day before but that he was “not in a psychoactive state of intoxication” at the time of the crash.
Ms Grant submitted that her client should not spend any time in custody as due to delays in the case he would serve his time in an adult jail despite his offending happening when he was a child.
Wiping away tears and with a shaky voice, Lauren’s mother Rhonda Quabba faced the young man who killed her daughter as she read her victim impact statement to the court, telling him of her “unexplainable” grief since the pair were “stolen” from us.
“I had just talked to her that afternoon and she had sent me texts saying she was on her way home,” she said.
“One minute here, the next gone forever. “Our two precious children were so happy; laughing all the time; in love and always sharing their dreams and plans for the future they had together; (they’re) now gone.”
Judge John Coker’s voice broke and the normally composed judge was overcome with emotion as he addressed the families of the deceased.
“It is so easy to think there should be an eye for an eye, that the penalty should meet the crime,” he said.
“There is no balance that can make it right for everyone.”
Lauren’s father Rodney Quabba shook his head as Judge Coker sentenced the teen to 12 months’ detention, to be served as a three-month conditional release order, and disqualified him from driving for two years. No conviction was recorded.