Loader Death `ruined' Driver

Newcastle Herald

Saturday May 10, 2003

A MAN found guilty of manslaughter after running down a boy in a front-end loader has had his life destroyed and should not go to jail, a Newcastle court has heard.

Pre-sentence submissions were presented in Newcastle District Court yesterday in the case of Wayne Kelvin Lavender.

Lavender, 45, of Barrett Avenue, Garden Suburb, was driving a front-end loader at a Redhead sand quarry in October, 2001, when he gave chase to a group of four boys playing in the area.

During the pursuit, the front-end loader ran over Michael Milne, 13, killing him instantly.

Lavender's wife Beverly, who took the stand for the first time yesterday, described her husband as a caring and loving man who was a ``well-regarded" worker.

Mrs Lavender said her husband had not worked since the incident, had abandoned his life in the Hunter to stay with family in Inverell and was suffering physically because of what he had done.

``He keeps saying, `All I can see is that boy'," Mrs Lavender said.

``He has become a recluse.

``He won't go out, he won't see his mates ... the whole family has been torn apart."

Defence barrister Peter Hamill said the case was tragic ``in the classic Shakespearean sense of the word" and that Lavender showed ``all the classic manifestations of genuine and remorseful contrition".

Mr Hamill urged Judge Ralph Coolahan not to consider a full-time jail sentence.

While manslaughter was a very serious offence, Lavender's actions were the result of a ``brain-snap" and not a premeditated crime.

``This is a case where the criminality took place over a very, very short period of time," Mr Hamill said.

He insisted Lavender ``genuinely believed it was safe to proceed as he did".

``This is a serious case because of the loss of life, but I urge your honour to find that what was involved, albeit a gross one, was an error of judgement on the part of the accused," he said.

But Crown Prosecutor Lawrence Gray said Lavender's offence was ``far removed from a case of momentary misjudgement".

Mr Gray said Lavender pursued the boys through 145metres of thick bush, turned around and chased them more than 100metres further.

``In the later stages of the pursuit he once again sighted two boys and deliberately steered the vehicle in pursuit in the direction the boys were going," he said.

Mr Gray said the nature of the crime warranted a full custodial sentence.

Judge Coolahan questioned why the site had not been fenced off in the first place to keep children out.

``It's a site that's got perhaps the biggest sand castle in the area and it's not fenced off. I can't believe that," he said.

``There should be more people sitting in the dock besides Mr Lavender today, however I will make more mention of that later."

The case was adjourned until May 20 for sentence. Lavender's bail continues.

© 2003 Newcastle Herald

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