Sydney motorcyclist Joe Ciantar has avoided jail time after he pulled into the opposite lane on the Monaro Highway at Royalla last year and caused a fatal accident.
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It was the afternoon of November 28, 2015 and the 67-year-old, who had pulled out and accelerated to come up beside his friends, did not see the family travelling in convoy ahead.
An oncoming driver was forced to swerve to avoid Ciantar, who wore a "look of horror", and he collided with a 40-year-old motorcyclist and his teenage daughter riding pillion, who were behind the car.
Behind the man and his daughter was Raymond Solway, 65, who died when he veered off the road in an effort to avoid the accident ahead, and was thrown from his motorbike after hitting a ditch.
The 40-year-old motorcyclist had his left leg amputated as a result of the collision with Ciantar and his daughter required surgery.
Ciantar, whose left leg was also amputated following the accident, pleaded guilty on August 23 to negligent driving causing death and two counts of negligent driving causing grievous bodily harm.
The 67-year-old walked free from the ACT Magistrates Court court on Thursday after Magistrate Robert Cook sentenced him to six months imprisonment, fully suspended on a good behaviour order.
His licence was disqualified for three months.
Magistrate Cook said he accepted Ciantar felt genuine remorse for the accident, and in doing so he rejected a corrections report that had said otherwise. He said the loss of Ciantar's own leg would serve as "constant source of reminder" of the events that day.
He said the act of pulling into the opposite lane had been compulsive, and not pre-meditated, and noted Ciantar had not been affected by drugs or alcohol.
For the guilty plea, the magistrate gave Ciantar a 20 per cent discount on his sentence, as the plea had prevented multiple witnesses from the ordeal of having to give evidence.
At a sentencing hearing in the ACT Magistrates Court last week, Ciantar sobbed as prosecutor Anthony Williamson read out five victim impact statements to the court.
The Sydney man told Mr Solway's family and close friends at the hearing: "I wish I was the one that died and had not caused a lot of grief to other people."
"I really apologise from the bottom of my heart and wish that never happened."
