Fury over crash driver’s ‘unfair’ sentence
Family members of five teenagers killed in a horrific crash have slammed the “absolutely disgusting” sentence handed down to the speeding P-plater who was behind the wheel.
Tyrell Edwards faced Campbelltown District Court on Friday, his 20th birthday, after pleading guilty to five counts of aggravated dangerous driving occasioning death at a speed more than 45km/h over the limit.
He wore a green prison tracksuit and kept his head bowed as Judge Christopher O’Brien sentenced him to at least seven years in prison with a maximum of 12 years behind bars.
The large group of Edwards’ family members and friends, who sat segregated from everyone else in the jury box, broke down in tears as his sentence was delivered.
Metres away, the families of the victims loudly scoffed in disbelief as they cried. The parents of the victims told reporters outside court the sentence was “unfair” and their families had been “ruined” by the fatal crash.
The court heard five teens were illegally crammed into a car driven by the P-plater when he lost control of his Nissan Navara and smashed into a tree on September 6, 2020.
He reached speeds of nearly 147km/h earlier in the joy ride, and was travelling at nearly 118 km/h along the 60 km/r residential road moments before the devastating impact.
Lily Van de Putte, 14, Summer Williams, 14, Gabriella McLennan, 15, and Tyrese Bechard, 15, were all thrown from the car and found some distance away from the wreckage.
Antonio Desisto, 16, was hanging upside down in the passenger seat after being trapped by his seat belt. Edwards sustained only minor injuries.
Victims’ families left ‘speechless’
Gabriella’s mother Samantha McLennan said her heart “dropped” as she heard Edwards’ sentence, while Antonio’s father Exaven Desisto said he was left “speechless”.
“I knew the outcome wouldn’t be spectacular but to hear it was a big shock,” he said.
“The justice system absolutely stinks.
“It doesn’t give you closure because it doesn’t matter how much time he gets. We’re the ones that get the life sentence now, so it’s absolutely disgusting”.
Lily’s father John Van De Putte said he had expected the sentence to be low, but he felt it did not match the crime.
“There’s five lives lost. Seven years in jail,” he said.
“You’d get more if you killed someone with a baseball bat. This is where legislation needs to be changed to treat a vehicle like a weapon. Just because you killed someone in a vehicle, doesn’t make the crime any less.”
Mr Van De Putte has been responsible for spearheading the “Think of the five, arrive alive” campaign for road safety in honour of the dead children.
While he said he had “empathy” for the P-plater, the grieving father said he didn’t believe his letter of apology was “his true words” and didn’t think “it comes from the heart”.
“I can’t forgive him,” he said.
Mr Van De Putte told reporters the families of the victims and the local community were divided in their reactions to Edwards after the crash.
“Some people want him dead. Others don’t. I can see both sides,” he said.
“I’ve lost my daughter. She’ll never come back.”
‘I don’t want to go to jail’
Judge O’Brien described the deaths of the five victims as “tragic and impossibly sad” as he spoke to a courtroom filled with mourning families.
“The loss of these five young people diminishes us all,” he said.
“Their deaths were completely avoidable and responsibility for them lies squarely at the feet of the offender.”
Edwards was the sole survivor of the 2022 crash, which witnesses described as a “massive explosion”.
His mother’s Nissan Navara had only four seat belts, but five passengers were illegally crammed into the car at 8pm when the P-plater lost control of the car.
He veered onto the wrong side of the main road and smashed into a tree before the impact sent the car hurtling into a second tree.
Edwards was heard yelling “get me out of here, I can’t stay in here” while he was trapped inside the cabin.
He managed to free himself by pushing out the windscreen and climbing out.
“I’m gonna go to jail, I can’t go to jail, I don’t want to go to jail,” the 20-year-old told witnesses at the scene.
He had previously been suspended from driving twice, court documents reveal.
In the hours before the crash, Edwards reached speeds of up to 147km/h and used his mobile phone to film himself swerving across the road.
In one video, he told his young teen passengers: “We are going 160 (km/h) the whole way.”
Judge O’Brien found the P-plater had revealed a “serious disregard for public safety” when he engaged in an “extended, sustained and deliberate” illegal joy ride.
“His driving was both erratic and aggressive and characterised by him showing off for the victims,” he said.
“The offender demonstrated an abandonment of his responsibilities as a road user.”
In a letter tendered to the court, the provisional driver apologised for the pain caused by his actions and said he wished he could “take it all back”.
“I am so sorry for the pain and loss I have caused to all the families,” he wrote.
“I know serving a sentence won’t be good enough for the damage that has been done.”
The 20-year-old acknowledged there were “too many people in the car” and “there was speed involved” when he crashed into the tree.
“I know I must face up to what happened and my responsibility for the accident,” he wrote.
Judge O’Brien found Edwards had continually shown contrition and accepted responsibility for his actions, which ended the lives of his five young friends.
“He is truly genuinely and deeply remorseful for his conduct and the deaths of the five victims,” the judge said.
The court was told Edwards suffered long-term acute stress disorder and major depressive disorder after the crash. He also continues to battle with survivor’s guilt, self-blame, and ongoing suicidal ideation.
Judge O’Brien noted the driver’s mental illness and the impact on his family was not surprising given “the enormity of the carnage for which he was responsible”.
The judge took into account Edwards’ mental health and the burden it would add to time spent behind bars.
“There is no doubt in my mind he will be vulnerable in a custodial setting,” he said.
With that in mind, Judge O’Brien set the non-parole period at five years to enable Edwards to serve more of his sentence in the community.
The 20-year-old will first be eligible for parole on July 11, 2030.
Cars can be ‘killing machines’
At nearby Campbelltown Police Station, Crash Patrol Assistant Commissioner Brett McFadden lamented the lives lost in “one of the worst road crashes in recent memory in NSW”.
“The tragedy those families experienced can’t be replaced or mitigated by the sentence that was imposed today,” Mr McFadden said.
“Speed was the ultimate causal factor for this with a provisional driver travelling close to twice the speed limit, travelling close to 117 km/h in a 60 km/h zone.”
Mr McFadden said Edwards’ sentencing was “an ideal opportunity” to assess how to “enrich and evolve” road safety legislation, but he stopped short of calling for a criminal charge of vehicular manslaughter.
He called for drivers across the state to be more careful when travelling and reminded them to be mindful that cars can become “real killing machines”.
“There are far too many drivers on our roads who need to do a hell of a lot better,” he said.
Over the past 12 months, police have issued 15,000 speeding fines to provisional drivers like Edwards.
