A HOPPERS Crossing man has been jailed following a drunken, high-speed car crash at Werribee South last year that killed a teenage girl.
In the County Court on Monday, Peter Dean, 28, was sentenced to seven years’ jail over the crash that claimed the life of 19-year-old Laura Hallinan and left six others, including himself, with serious injuries.
Dean was sentenced to a further two years and two months for having sex with a 13-year-old girl in April last year.
Ms Hallinan was one of six passengers in the car being driven by Dean, who was speeding at 128 km/h when he lost control on a sharp bend on the corner of Diggers and Whites roads and ploughed through a guard rail and into two trees.
The court heard Dean had an estimated blood alcohol reading of 0.9 — nearly twice the legal limit.
Dean, whose licence had been suspended earlier in the day for speeding, had been drinking at a hotel with friends on July 14, the night of the crash.
Six friends crammed into his car to be driven home just after 11pm. One woman sat in the footwell of the front passenger’s side while another sat on a man’s lap in the back. Dean was the only one wearing a seatbelt.
The court was told that as the car sped along Diggers Road, seconds before the crash, one of the back-seat passengers yelled at him to slow down. Police later described the crash scene as resembling “a bomb site”. Two of the passengers were flown to hospital in a critical condition.
Outside court, a friend of Ms Hallinan, identified as Matt, told reporters he hoped the tragedy would send a strong message to hoon drivers.
“It just shows that speed and alcohol don’t mix . . . so, all the hoon drivers out there, maybe give it a rest, because we’ve lost someone close.”
Judge Meryl Sexton said Ms Hallinan’s grieving mother, Cathy, had suffered “unimaginable emotional pain” over the loss of her daughter, a former Hoppers Crossing Secondary College student.
She conceded Dean had expressed “genuine remorse” to family, friends and a psychologist and had written a letter of apology, which was left in Ms Hallinan’s parents’ letterbox on the day of her funeral.
In relation to the charge of sex with the 13-year-old girl, the court heard that in March last year, the Department of Human Services had warned Dean not to allow physical contact or invite her into his house.
The girl stayed the night with Dean on April 22 and the following morning police arrived and found a used condom on the floor.
“Even if the young girl had initiated or consented to sexual activity, she was obviously a vulnerable teenager. You were twice her age and you took advantage of her youth and vulnerability,” Ms Sexton said.
Dean pleaded guilty to both charges. He will be eligible for parole in July 2019.
