The young driver who fatally struck South Australian Police Commissioner Grant Stevens’ son Charlie has avoided jail over the Schoolies week tragedy.
Dhirren Singh Randhawa, 19, of Encounter Bay, was sentenced in the SA District Court on Tuesday to one year, one month and seven days in prison, with a non-parole period of seven months – suspended on condition of good behavior for two months . year.
He has also been banned from driving for ten years.
He had pleaded guilty to driving without due care and leaving the scene of an accident at Goolwa Beach, south of Adelaide, on November 17.
The circumstances of the tragedy were revealed during sentencing submissions.
Charlie Stevens, 18, and three friends were celebrating Schoolies at a Goolwa Beach hut owned by his family, the court was told.
They had stopped Randhawa at 9 p.m. to ask for a ride to Victor Harbor, but he refused, explaining that he did not want to risk penalty points on his P plates.
He made a U-turn and hit Mr Stevens, causing irreversible brain damage. He died the next day at Flinders Medical Center.
Dhirren Randhawa has avoided going to jail over an accident that caused the death of Charlie Stevens
Randhawa drove away in shock and disbelief, but stopped when he saw a police car and told them what had happened.
On October 3, Randhawa addressed Mr Stevens’ family in court, telling them that learning Charlie’s life support had been turned off was “the hardest thing I have heard in my life.”
“To Charlie’s mother and father, seeing you on TV and talking about Charlie brought out a deep sadness in me,” he said.
“There’s so much I’d like to say, but most of all I want to say I’m sorry. And I’m sorry, Charlie.’
Grant Stevens said: ‘There is not a day when we do not shed a tear when we think of our son’
In his victim impact statement, Grant Stevens told Randhawa he “couldn’t possibly understand what you took from us.”
“There isn’t a day when we don’t shed a tear when we think about our son and how much we miss him,” Stevens said in court, with his wife Emma by his side.
‘Charlie was a vibrant, caring, playful, generous young man with a love for life and plans for the future. Now all we have are the memories of him and that’s not enough.’
