Hit-run deaths to attract manslaughter charges. 19/10/2005. ABC News Online
Any person found responsible for causing a hit-and-run fatality will be charged with manslaughter, under moves announced by the South Australian Government. A 15-year maximum sentence will apply to a first offence of causing death by dangerous driving.

A life sentence will apply if there are aggravating circumstances, including fleeing from police or high blood alcohol levels.Attorney-General Michael Atkinson says licence disqualifications of 10 years will also be imposed on convicted drivers after they serve a sentence. “When an offender comes out of prison he’s free to drive again the day he comes out of prison,” he said.

“We’re changing that to say that the licence suspension starts the day he comes out of prison.” Premier Mike Rann says the new laws are based on the recommendations from the Kapunda Road Royal Commission into an accident involving prominent barrister Eugene McGee.

“We are now going to endorse and enact legislation to put Commissioner James’s recommendations into law,” Mr Rann said. “Manslaughter will be the charge – we’re simply not going to muck around with this. “A car can be a lethal weapon. A car can cause in the wrong hands driven recklessly can wreck other peoples lives.”

But shadow attorney-general, Robert Lawson, says increasing maximum penalties does not achieve anything. “Simply increasing maximum penalties all the time in reaction to particular events is not the solution to the law and order problems of this state,” he said. “That is the cheap solution. It’s the rhetorical solution of the Premier.

“That’s his reaction to every sentence where there’s any concern.” Meanwhile, the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is expected to respond within three weeks to the State Government’s call for an appeal against a suspended sentence for a hit-and-run driver.

The driver was a still a youth in April last year when he stole a car while on bail. He collided with 47-year-old motorbike rider John Miller, who died.

The State Government believes the suspended sentence given to the offender was manifestly inadequate. DPP Stephen Pallaras says his examination of the sentence will not be influenced by public comment.