Court rejects appeal to increase sentence of killer driver

The son of a woman killed in a horrific crash in northern Victoria in 2023 says he was "trying not to feel defeated" as the Court of Appeal dismissed a prosecution appeal to increase the killer driver's sentence.

In 2023, Christopher Dillon Joannidis, 32, ignored several road signs and drove through the intersection of the Murray Valley Highway and Laubuan Road, hitting a ute and sending it into the path of a milk tanker.

The crash killed 62-year-old Debbie Markey and four overseas workers — Pin-Yu Wang, Hsin-Yu Chen, Wai-Yan Lam and Zih-Yao Chen, who were from Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Last year, Joannidis was sentenced to serve a minimum of three years behind bars for dangerous driving causing death, with his sentence capped at five years.

Last month, the Office of Prosecutions argued for an increased sentence, telling the Court of Appeal that the original sentence was "manifestly unjust".

Judges point to flaws in road

Joannidis's lawyer pointed to the design of the intersection and the rise of a road hump 39 metres south of the intersection that obscures visibility.

In their reasoning, Justice Stephen McLeish, Justice Christopher Boyce and Justice Terence Forrest said that Joannidis's offending was not accompanied by aggravating factors and he was "able to point to significant mitigating factors".

The appeal judgement noted that he was "dangerously inattentive" for at least 375 metres and had also been verbally warned by police on the dangers of the intersection a few minutes before the collision.

The appeal judges said that the sentencing judge used this detail to "inform" the extent of Joannidis's moral culpability, but also considered the attributes of the intersection as "reducing moral culpability".

"Where faults in road or road safety design contribute to a collision, and therefore to the death of the victim of dangerous driving, this may compel a significant reduction in moral culpability, despite the culpability necessarily involved in the offender's dangerous driving," the judgement says.

"To our minds, this feature of the case is significant in explaining the sentences on each individual charge. In our view, it was entirely open for the judge to impose the individual sentences that he did."

'Justice not served'

Ms Markey's son, Daniel Montero, spoke outside the court and said that "justice was not served" for his family and that of Andrew McCluskey, the driver of the milk tanker.

"[It] really has taken a massive impact on my life and my family's, and today was just not the outcome that we wanted," Mr Montero said.

He said the outcome was "absolutely insane".

"This guy killed five people, and it doesn't matter how you spin it, that's what he did," Mr Montero said.

"And today they really couldn't give us an answer."

Mr Montero said his mother would tell him to put the incident behind him and move on with his life.

"I just need to try and move on with my life and try and keep myself with my head held high because that's what my mum would want,"

he said.

"Just live life the way that she would want me to."