THE driver of a farm ute who admitted negligence over a road crash that killed Cootamundra couple Peter and Sandra Black has been placed on two good behaviour bonds and disqualified from driving for 15 months.
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Peter Clout, 61, of Coolac, was sentenced in Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court on Tuesday by Judge Stephen Norrish.
Clout was acquitted of two counts of dangerous driving occasioning death by a Wagga District Court jury after a five-day trial earlier this month, but then pleaded guilty to two counts of the less serious charge of negligent driving occasioning death.
Mr Black, 52, and Mrs Black, 47, died when the Suzuki Boulevard they were riding on Muttama Road on January 25, 2015, hit the side of Clout’s ute near Coolac.
Clout turned in front of the oncoming motorcycle to go into a travelling stock reserve and told police he did not see the Blacks coming until they were 15 to 20 metres away.
His barrister, Gabrielle Bashir, told Judge Norrish in sentencing submissions Clout had been guilty of “a momentary lapse of due care”.
Members of Mr Black’s family, including his mother Bev, from Stockinbingal, and his sister, Julie, from Wagga, watched sentencing proceedings via a videolink between the Downing Centre and a room in the Wagga courthouse.
“We were told (beforehand) that is what he was going to get,” Mrs Black said of the sentence after it was delivered.
“We are disappointed, but it’s not going to bring Peter and Sandra back.”
Mrs Black said the tragedy that cost the lives of her eldest son and her daughter-in-law was still hard to believe.
“I still expect to see them walk through the door,” she said.
“It’s all very hard.”
Clout was placed on a two-year good behaviour bond for the death of Mr Black and a three-year bond for the death of Mrs Black.
He will be eligible to drive again on June 28 next year.
The court was told Clout had a spotless driving record before the crash.
