Parents have spoken out about the life-changing moment they realized their son and his pregnant girlfriend had been killed by a young driver.
When Kate Leadbetter, 31, and her partner Matthew Field, 37, were hit by a car in Alexandra Hills, eastern Brisbane, on Australia Day last year, they were about to become parents for the first time, to a baby they called Miles.
Russell and Ann Field, Matthew’s parents, have shared that they learned their son had been killed while watching the evening news 18 months ago.
Mr Field told A Current Affair, ‘We were watching the news on TV and (at) quarter past six… (there was) a news flash, you know, ‘Young couple slain at Alexandra Hills while walking their dogs.’
‘And we both looked at each other at the same time basically and Ann said, ‘I think that’s Matt and Kate.’
The couple had to wait three hours for two police officers who knocked on the door to confirm their greatest fears.
Russell and Ann have been unable to return to work since the tragedy 18 months ago, and neither cop has returned to work since delivering the awful news.
The driver, who cannot be identified because he was 17 at the time, was driving a stolen Landcruiser when he blew a red light and crashed with a truck before rolling over and hitting the couple.
He fled the area and attempted to steal another vehicle before being apprehended and pinned down by a nearby neighbor.
At the time of the accident, the condemned teen’s blood alcohol percentage was discovered to be between 0.151 and 0.192 percent.
He’d been drinking and using marijuana since around 10 a.m. that day.
The 18-year-old pled guilty to two counts of manslaughter and a slew of additional offences after initially being charged with murder.
The adolescent was sentenced to 10 years in prison last week, but Justice Martin Burns ruled that he would be eligible for parole after serving six years.
According to him, the catastrophe was a “almost predictable result” of the teen’s conduct leading up to the disaster.
Given the teen’s long history of exceedingly unsafe driving that resulted in a profoundly irresponsible last conduct, Justice Burns described the manslaughter charges as “especially horrific.”
‘There will be no acceptable sentencing… (and) no sentence can do justice to the agony you have caused,’ he told the adolescent.
The sentence has prompted debate across the country, with many asking whether it was appropriate to the act that resulted in the death of an entire family.
Mr Field has criticized the ‘inadequate’ punishment, insisting that even incarcerating the juvenile driver for the rest of his life would not be enough.
‘Six years for killing three people, and we define Miles as a person,’ he added, ‘is completely unfathomable and unacceptable on any human’s standards.’
Mr Field cautioned that the government will be held accountable if it’sits on its hands on this,’ and that Queensland’s legal system was defective.
‘It’s a joke,’ she says. Lock him up for the rest of his life in our hearts. That day, he took three lives. ‘Three lives were taken in a moment,’ he explained.
‘Our lives will never be the same with this tragic loss, and has affected me, my family and friends in every possible way.’
He told A Current Affair the first word that came to mind when he heard the six-year sentence was ‘bull****’.
‘I just couldn’t believe it, my heart was ripped out again,’ his wife Ann agreed.
She said the young parents had been ‘so excited’ to be parents and described the crash that ended their dreams as ‘unfathomable’.
Queensland Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman indicated on Thursday that she will appeal the sentence, claiming it was clearly insufficient.
Ms Fentimen stated that on the day of the sentencing, she requested counsel from the director of public prosecutions and received a response on Thursday morning.
‘I can disclose the grounds of appeal include that the manslaughter sentence was manifestly insufficient, especially given the judge’s determination that the crime was horrific,’ Ms Fentiman told reporters.
‘I want to pay tribute to Matt and Kate’s family and honor their pain, as well as the community’s fury and anger over this case.’
With over 47,000 signatures from outraged Australians, both the Field and Leadbetter families expressed their hope that the sentence will be overturned.