South Australia slams hit & run offenders
- From: Sir Lex <SL@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 31 Oct 2005 13:43:50 +1100
http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,16964381%255E2682,00.html
Hit-run drivers face life in jail By Political Reporter JEMMA CHAPMAN 19oct05
DRIVERS in South Australia who cause death or serious injury by dangerous driving in hit-run smashes or "aggravated" circumstances face life imprisonment.
Premier Mike Rann yesterday said the government would change the law to ensure "drivers get life imprisonment for killing or seriously maiming another" in "aggravated" circumstances, including the driver fleeing police, having a blood alcohol reading of 0.15 or more or driving under the influence of drugs. The maximum penalty for leaving the scene of an accident would rise from one year to 15 years for a first offence and life for a subsequent offence - up from 10 years. Mr Rann said that made the penalty for such an offence equal to that for manslaughter. "When it comes down to these hit-and-run merchants, it's going to be manslaughter from now on," he said. For non-aggravated offences, the maximum penalty would rise to 15 years.
The announcement came after Attorney-General Michael Atkinson revealed he had asked the Director of Public Prosecutions to appeal against last week's suspended sentence to a teenaged ward of the state who, in April, 2004, killed Riverland man Johnny Miller while drunk and driving a stolen car.
No Pokies MP Nick Xenophon and the Opposition called for an independent inquiry into the death and adequacy of sentence.
Mr Xenophon said the Government "needs to go much further" than increasing penalties. "If they want to remove any incentive for anyone to leave the scene of an accident, there needs to be a presumption that if you leave the scene of an accident, you've been driving dangerously unless you prove otherwise," he said
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