A fleeting but fatal decision to change lanes while blinded by the sun will not result in a Sydney father-of-six being jailed.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Warwick Mirzikinian, 51, veered into a kerbside lane to avoid a vehicle ahead but instead collided with UberEats delivery cyclist Julien Trameaux in Double Bay on November 13, 2017.
The 24-year-old Frenchman smashed into the windscreen of Mirzikinian's Tesla before being thrown to the road surface, killing him.
Mirzikinian on Friday was sentenced to 19 months in prison for the dangerous driving that caused "unimaginable pain" to Mr Trameaux's friends and family.
But District Court Judge Christopher O'Brien ruled the sentence be served in the community on an intensive corrections order, requiring the statistical analyst and property developer complete 250 hours of community service.
The judge said the case - "laden with tragedy and sadness" - involves a young man loved by many being killed by a father-of-six who was otherwise of good character and high regard.
Mr Trameaux was struck as he cycled up the windy, triple-laned New South Head Road on an electric bicycle.
He'd likely ridden part of the way up the hill on the footpath before moving back onto the road five seconds before collision, the judge found based on speed analysis.
But that still didn't mean it was a case of the French rider "rushing back into a lane".
The judge accepted Mirzikinian, a former poker champion, was blinded by the sun at the time but it begged the question of why a driver would move into a kerbside lane unsighted.
"The fact his vision was so compromised means he should have stayed in the lane," Judge O'Brien said.
"To do otherwise was inherently dangerous"
Prosecutors said a jail term was needed but it could be served as an ICO if Mirzikinian's moral culpability was judged as low.
The judge found so, saying while worse than a momentary lapse of attention, the offending didn't involve speeding and the dangerous driving occurred only over a short distance.
The 52-year-old's early guilty plea, genuine remorse and offers to pay for the victim's funeral and otherwise help the Trameaux family were also recognised.
The court was told Mirzikinian was left with a "debilitating sense of grief" and had suffered acute PTSD.
"He told me, and I accept, that not a day goes by that he does not think of the victim," the judge said.
Character references spoke of highly of the "loyal, kind and generous" father who knew his pain was nothing like that experienced by the Trameaux family.
"The tragic reality is a young man just going about his working day ... was taken from his family so suddenly and unexpectedly," the judge said.
"The pain of the loss does not abate."
Australian Associated Press
