An unlicensed driver had shared a carton of whiskey and cola cans with a mate before he caused the deaths of two siblings in a head-on Melbourne car crash.
Damian Tiahaiere Rakatau, 42, was sentenced in the Victorian County Court on Thursday to 13 years in jail with a non-parole period of nine years.
He admitted to culpable driving causing the death of 10-year-old Ruana Panicker and her brother Immanual, four, in July 2018.
Rakatau also admitted to seriously injuring their mother Manju Varughese, 39, who spent weeks in an induced coma after she was crushed in the accident.
Before the crash, Rakatau attended a rugby function in Melton South and consumed 25 cans of whiskey and cola over several hours with a friend.
About 20 minutes after he was taken home by his partner, Rakatau took her car and drove erratically along the Western Freeway.
Witnesses recalled he overtook two cars, drove on the wrong side of the road, and sped along Hopkins Road at Truganina before he crashed head-on into the family's Ford Fiesta.
The family were reportedly on the way home from a birthday party.
At the time of the crash, Rakatau was driving at 115 km/h in an 80 zone and likely had a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.152 to 0.173 per cent.
He had never obtained a Victorian driver's license and had been found guilty of unlicensed driving five times before the crash.
"Your driving was grossly negligent, compounded by your drunkenness," County Court Judge Sarah Dawes said on Thursday.
"You pulled out to overtake a car at a high speed, without any regard to oncoming traffic. You did not give Ms Varughese any chance to avoid you, resulting in this horrific collision."
Judge Dawes said Rakatau, who has low intellectual functioning and is illiterate, had shown regret and remorse for his actions and told a psychologist he would never drink again.
He attends church services in prison to "to pray for the family of the deceased and to ask God for forgiveness".
A New Zealand citizen, Rakatau will be deported once he completes his prison sentence.
Judge Dawes' full sentencing remarks are available online at:
https://www.countycourt.vic.gov.au/files/documents/2019-08/sentencing-remarks-dpp-v-damian-rakatau.pdf
Australian Associated Press
