Courier Mail: Appeal route over road death (page 11)

Attorney-General Kerry Shine could appeal against a six-month jail term given to a Gold Coast man who ran down and killed a cyclist. Mr Shine yesterday confirmed he had asked for a report an the case of Paul David Vance from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, to determine “whether there are grounds for an appeal of the sentence”. Vance was found guilty of causing the death of Burleigh Heads father Allan Keith Scott, 54, and sentenced by Judge Fleur Kingham, in Southport District Court on Tuesday, to two years’ jail, suspended after six months.

He was also disqualified from driving for five years: Scott was riding -a mountain bike when he was hit from behind and hurled 37m, landing face-first on the side of the road. Vance, who had been out drinking with friends, was asleep at the, Wheel and did not realise he had hit anyone. He pleaded guilty to the dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death. The court heard Vance had been a “happy-go-lucky man” before the accident but now suffered from depression.