A Clyde North drink driver who lost control at a Tooradin roundabout at high speed resulting in the death of his friend has been jailed for at least five-and-a-half years.
Edward Latar, 38 at the time, displayed “appalling reckless driving” in speeding and swerving erratically while under the influence of alcohol, Victorian County Court judge Duncan Allen said on 12 February.
With two passengers aboard, Latar was fleeing from an earlier collision in Pakenham South, which was 22 kilometres away.
He approached the roundabout at South Gippsland Highway and Baxter-Tooradin Road at 156 km/h and lost control about 8.38pm on Saturday 6 July 2024.
The Jeep wagon left the road, slid sideways on a grass shoulder, went over an Armco metal safety barrier, got airborne and rolled several times in a paddock.
His rear passenger and friend Daniel Sadala, 32, was fatally injured.
The much loved, intelligent and highly regarded man died at the scene despite paramedics and CFA members performing CPR, Judge Allen said.
Latar and a front passenger were injured and conveyed to The Alfred hospital. Latar was released the next day.
He recorded a blood-alcohol reading of 0.187 – more than thrice the legal limit and that rendered him incapable of properly controlling his vehicle, the judge noted.
Before the fatality, Latar and his passengers had been downing whiskey shots at his father’s house in Cranbourne.
One of his mates nagged Latar to drive him to a partner’s house in Pakenham.
Latar initially declined to drink-drive, but eventually relented – what Judge Allen termed a “terrible decision” with “shocking consequences”.
During the fateful trip, Latar was speeding, erratically swerving between lanes and became lost and disoriented while trying to find the address.
About 8.30pm, he crashed into the back of a Volkswagen Caddy van at the Healesville-Koo Wee Rup and Ballarto roads intersection, Pakenham South.
He later told police he got scared about having an accident when he shouldn’t be driving, and “took off” at high speed.
He said he panicked as the Caddy pursued Latar’s Jeep on a foggy Ballarto Road.
The Caddy gave up the chase after noting the Jeep’s number plate and conveying the information to police via triple-0.
Seemingly unaware, Latar continued to flee down Clyde-Five Ways Road and South Gippsland Highway before he approached the Tooradin roundabout.
“And then that road was curving. That’s why the car turned – I mean the car flipped,” he later told police.
“I thought the road is going straight, I think, but the road curve(d) or there was a roundabout.”
Latar pleaded guilty to culpable driving causing death, as well as careless driving and failing to give a name-and-address at the initial crash.
In sentencing on 12 February, Judge Allen said the victim Sadala’s family suffered “immeasurable” impact – a “sense of loss and grief that will never go away”,
They were also caused great financial strain, reluctantly having to sell up their home – one that had enduring connection to their lost family member.
In setting a non-parole period, the judge noted the self-employed truck driver’s guilty plea, “profound” remorse, “good” rehabilitation prospects and his distress in not supporting his wife and two children while he’s in jail.
He also noted the risk of Latar’s major PTSD and depression deteriorating in jail, as well as his exposure to war-related trauma growing up in South Sudan.
It was also significant that Latar had abstained from alcohol since immediately after the crash, given his “problematic” relationship with booze.
Judge Allen said a message needed to be sent to those seeking to drink and drive at speed and putting others at risk, as well as to heed the “devastating” impact on the victim and his family.
Latar was jailed for nine years and one month, with a five-and-a-half year non-parole period.
He was disqualified from driving for five years.
