By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A hit-run driver who mowed down another motorist at the side of Glasscocks Road in Lyndhurst has been spared jail.
Fiame Teo, 45, of Hampton Park, was arrested after a year-long police investigation following the collision on 1 December 2018.
He had driven away, leaving his seriously injured male victim with a fractured skull, legs and arm on the roadside.
Teo pleaded guilty at the County Court of Victoria to dangerous driving causing serious injury as well as failing to stop and render assistance after the collision.
Before the hit-run, Teo had been apparently angered by the victim’s driving in front of him on Frankston-Dandenong Road about 5.50pm that day.
While stopped at traffic lights, Teo got out of his car and strode towards the victim’s Golf.
When the lights turned green, the Golf took off, turned onto Glasscocks Road and stopped.
The victim and his cousin got out of the car, leaving their doors open, to seek an explanation for Teo’s “demeanour”.
A short time later, the victim was struck by the Explorer. He landed three metres in front of his Golf.
Teo, who was with his wife and son, didn’t stop to assist.
The victim was helped by his cousin and a passing motorist, and rushed by ambulance to The Alfred hospital.
A year later, Teo told police that he had seen the victim about “half a rugby field” away before hitting him.
Judge Nola Karapanagiotidis said Teo knew the victim was in the path of his Ford and had opportunity to avoid the collision.
However, no deliberateness or negligence on Teo’s part caused the injuries, the judge said.
His failure to stop to render aid was “inherently serious”, normally attracting a jail term. He ought to have known the victim was seriously injured, Judge Karapanagiotidis said.
As a result of the crash, the victim in his 30s suffers an ongoing brain injury, still requiring full-time care from his mother.
The sentence was not a measure of the “immeasurable”, “life-changing” impact on the victim and his family, Judge Karapanagiotidis said.
In a victim impact statement, the mother told of being mentally broken by a “new normal” that had taken over their lives.
And saddened that her son’s love of family and friends had changed due to his “fear of the world” and “loss of understanding”.
The victim’s sister described the initial anguish of not knowing if he would survive.
In mitigation, the judge noted the likely hardship facing Teo’s visually-impaired partner and their four-year-old son, if Teo was jailed.
His wife’s sight was worsening due to incurable macular dystrophy. She was expected to become legally blind.
Being unable to drive, she depended on Teo to drive her to work in aged care.
If Teo was imprisoned, she stated she’d stop work and the family would have no income. They had no savings, no entitlement to Centrelink benefits and few extended family members nearby.
Judge Karapanagiotidis noted the stress of having the matter “hanging over (Teo’s) head” for three years, largely due to delays from the Covid pandemic.
During this time, Teo had not re-offended. His relevant criminal priors in New Zealand were “limited”.
The Samoan-born factory worker was not an Australian citizen. His defence lawyer argued that he was at risk of deportation if imprisoned for 12 months or more.
Judge Karapanagiotidis said the prosecution accepted many of the mitigating factors were “relevant”.
Prosecutors had argued for a sentence combining jail and a CCO. Teo’s lawyer submitted for a CCO only.
The judge opted for a “substantial” three-year CCO including supervision and 280 hours of community work and treatment.
Teo was disqualified from driving for 18 months.
Judge Karapanagiotidis warned Teo that breaching the driving ban would contravene the CCO.
