A Dapto dad whose young family was almost wiped out by a lunatic driver says he is dismayed that the man will spend as little as 13 months in prison.
Nick Tolmie pulled his partner and a pram carrying his baby boy narrowly clear of a black SUV as it shot across a crowded Wollongong crossing in defiance of a red light in October.
Five months on, seeing video footage of the close call has stirred renewed anger for Mr Tolmie, who revealed his partner was seven months pregnant at the time of the near-collision.
“If [the car] had have hit her and the pram, it wouldn’t have been two lives that we would have lost, it would have been three,” he said.
“My whole little family, that we’ve worked so hard over the last three years to create, would have been gone.”
Mr Tolmie, 26, and partner Samantha Butler, 24, were heading home from lunch with their 18-month-old son William when they went to cross Keira Street.
Mr Tolmie hesitated at the green crossing signal when he heard sirens and smashing noises up the street.
I almost lost my family because of that idiot.
Standing 1,9m, he was able to see over the traffic as the SUV scraped and bashed into multiple cars, then crossed onto the wrong side of the road, the driver seemingly desperate to get away.
“I yelled at my partner – she was really unaware of what was going on,” Mr Tolmie said.
“She looked at me and I grabbed her with my right hand and pulled her back, then I sort of just swung the pram in my left hand. Before I knew it the car was going past.”
“To hear that he [the driver] only got 13 months’ jail – it seems really low for the manner he was driving in that day. It made me very angry.”
The couple saw footage of the incident for the first time on Sunday, after it appeared on the Mercury’s website.
Ms Butler was left shaken by the ordeal and says nurses attributed her heightened blood pressure at a check-up later that day to the experience.
“I almost lost my family because of that idiot,” she said.
“I think he should have been given a lot longer than 13 months. I don’t understand how he could risk so many people’s lives for something so stupid.”
On Friday Michael Lightowlers, 35, pleaded guilty to charges of dangerous driving and driving while disqualified.
He was sentenced to at least 13 months behind bars, with Magistrate Mark Douglass noting his manner of driving “should be reserved for Hollywood” and was among the worst he’d seen in two decades.
Lightowlers has since lodged an appeal. The matter will be heard at Wollongong District Court on April 27.
Angela Thompson
Proudly Illawarra Mercury since 2008; these days covering crime and justice issues. UOW alum. Thrilled by the chase and sobered by some of the things I see and hear when I stand still - sometimes in the same day. ang.thompson@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Proudly Illawarra Mercury since 2008; these days covering crime and justice issues. UOW alum. Thrilled by the chase and sobered by some of the things I see and hear when I stand still - sometimes in the same day. ang.thompson@austcommunitymedia.com.au
