SUNRAYSIA residents will have a rare opportunity to see the workings of one of the state’s highest courts beginning today.
The Supreme Court of Appeal will this week hear three criminal and one civil case during a four-day Mildura circuit.
It will be the only time this year that the Supreme Court of Appeal will sit in Mildura.
Court of Appeal president Justice Chris Maxwell, who will be among the Justices to visit this week, said that visiting regional centres provided a valuable opportunity for interchange between the Court of Appeal and the community.
“It is important for the court to go on circuit to regional centres because it provides an opportunity for the wider Victorian community to watch the court in action and observe how decisions are reached,” Justice Maxwell said.
“All Victorians are entitled to be proud of the court and should have the opportunity to see it in action,” he said.
The Court of Appeal is a division of the Supreme Court, the superior court in the State of Victoria.
Ten years too great for crash that killed six
A judge who sentenced the driver in a hit-run crash that killed six teenagers to a maximum 10 years jail was "emotionally borne" by the accidents circumstances, the Supreme Court of Appeal was told yesterday.
The Court of Appeal has reserved its decision on an appeal by Thomas Graham Towle, 37, formerly of Red Cliffs, that the sentence was manifestly excessive.
Towles Supreme Court trial last year was told he was driving at excessive speed, in dark and unfamiliar surroundings and with his four-year-old son on his lap when he lost control of his vehicle and careered into a group of 13 teenagers near Mildura in February 2006, killing six and seriously injuring four others.
Towle was jailed for 10 years, with a minimum of seven years, after being found guilty by a jury on six counts of dangerous driving causing death and four counts of dangerous driving causing serious injury.
However, Towles defence counsel Robert Richter, QC, who defended the accused during a 5½-week trial in Melbourne, said yesterday the sentence was excessive.
"Ten years for a lapse of 10 seconds is too great," Mr Richter told the three Court of Appeal judges at the hearing in Mildura.
In sentencing, Justice Philip Cummins described Towles driving as "within the worst category of dangerous driving", and the maximum penalty for each of the offences at the time was five years jail.
Justice Cummins ordered that he serve a total effective sentence of 10 years jail, with a minimum of seven before being eligible for parole.
But Mr Richter said yesterday the sentencing judge had "used the language of reckless culpable driving" when sentencing Towle on the lesser charges.
Mr Richter said the sentencing judge had "double punished" Towle in accumulating the sentence. Towles "degree of moral culpability has to be placed somewhere", and Justice Cummins had placed it at the top.
Mr Richter said Justice Cummins was "emotionally borne" by the details of the crash.
But the state Director of Public Prosecutions, Jeremy Rapke, QC, told the court the amount of accumulation imposed on Towle was "very modest indeed".
He described the sentence as "merciful" when taking into account the number of offences and amount of suffering.
The Court of Appeal will consider Towles application before giving its decision on a date to be set
