The youth who was driving the automobile was given a two-year prison sentence in front of the ACT Supreme Court while the family of the teenager who was killed in the high-speed collision grieved.
In a car they were travelling in last October, best friends Claire Sankey, 15, and Susi Kopysiewicz, 14, perished after the vehicle drove off the Monaro Highway and collided with two trees.
The driver, a 16-year-old learner driver, and another boy fled the scene in an Uber.
The pair allegedly repeatedly contacted the victims’ phones after the collision but failed to dial 911 or the police.
The following morning, the girls’ bodies were discovered, and the driver was taken into custody hours later.
As Justice David Mossop described what transpired in the early hours of October 9, 2022, family members of the Sankeys were obviously distraught in court today.
The driver of his mother’s red Toyota Camry automobile was on a “three-day bender” before the collision, the court heard, and had consumed 12 stubbies of beer and half a bottle of rum before taking the wheel.
The court heard that he had been “showing off” while driving despite the rain, and traffic cameras had captured him driving at 200 kph only seconds before the collision.
He also disregarded the girls’ requests to slow down.
The vehicle left the highway, struck a tree, fully severing it at the trunk, then struck another tree, severely damaging the vehicle.
Both victims were found to have survived the collision, but even if they had received medical attention sooner, they would have most certainly perished from their wounds, according to an autopsy report.
The young driver entered a guilty plea to two counts of negligent driving resulting in death, one count of neglecting to seek medical attention, and one count of unaccompanied driving while learning to drive.
Justice David Mossop noted the serious effects the girls’ passing will have on those who knew and cared for them in his statements following the girls’ death.
The court is aware of the great loss and does so. yet it probably won’t provide much solace.
According to Justice Mossop, the driver was young enough to still be “foolish, impulsive, and dangerous” but obviously old enough to drive and be independent of his mother.
The driver struggled with alcohol and drug addiction in recent years, the court heard, and had tried alcohol for the first time at the age of 13.
Additionally, the driver was sentenced for two separate acts of aggravated robbery, attempted theft, knife possession in a public place, and property damage that occurred in January of last year.
In the first, a boy and another criminal attempted to carjack a woman in Canberra’s south while carrying a medium-sized butcher’s knife.
The two eventually left, and the woman informed ACT Policing about the encounter.
After receiving a free ride from the taxi driver from Erindale to Gowrie, the boys attacked him again, this time holding the knife to his neck and stomach.
The cab was eventually written off after they took it and caused damage to it.
Although no one was hurt, Justice David Mossop stated that both occurrences must have been “terrifying for the victims” despite the fact that no one was hurt.
The offence “involved a betrayal of the kindness [the taxi driver] directed towards the offenders,” he continued.
Justice Mossop underlined the teen’s guilty pleas and the likelihood of his rehabilitation when he announced his punishment.
He said that while in detention, he had participated in educational activities, acted in a respectful and pleasant manner, and had a desire to give back to the community.
The child will serve 24 months in prison and upon release will be subject to a 22-month good behaviour order.
