A different perspective to a death punishable by the courts
This article below is in stark contrast to recent reporting by the Herald which has echoed called for retribution by the parents of other victims of crime. High profile cases, such as Kieran Loveridge, saw parents calling for harsher sentencing of young men who the courts found did not intend or foresee the deaths of their victims. Those calls led to mandatory sentencing. This article shows that peace can be found not only by vengeance but also by understanding that a perpetrator of crime can suffer from the immediate impact of their actions and not simply by rotting in a cell for the entirety of their lives. It is twice the tragedy when two young lives are ruined.
Date: April 24, 2014 – 12:02PM
Kaine Daniel Barnett was sentenced over the death of two people.
In an emotional scene outside court, a father whose daughter died in a roadside crash has hugged the man who was driving the truck that killed her.
Kaine Daniel Barnett crashed into and killed a university student and a tow truck driver standing in the breakdown lane of the Hume Highway in February 2012.
Barnett, 26, has been sentenced to at least 18 months’ jail after being found guilty by a jury of two counts of dangerous driving causing death for killing Sarah Frazer, 23, and Geoffrey Clark, 40.
Sarah Frazer, who was killed on the Hume Highway two years ago.
In the Parramatta District Court on Thursday, Judge David Hanley said he did not like sending a young man with no prior criminal history to jail, but he needed to send a message of deterrence to the general public and particularly the drivers of heavy vehicles.
Dressed in a suit, Barnett wept and was comforted by family members and his de facto partner, Kayla, after the sentence was handed down.
He was then hugged by Ms Frazer’s father, Peter, and the two men wept together.
The Crown alleged Barnett must have been distracted for almost eight seconds to have missed the hazard and flashing lights on the side of the road.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/truck-driver-kaine-barnett-sentenced-to-18-months-jail-over-double-fatality-20140424-zqykl.html#ixzz2zmBIb9YE