A former Braybrook man has been sentenced to five years’ jail for his role in a road rage incident in which two men were killed.
Shayne William Sargent, 52, pleaded guilty to two charges of dangerous driving causing death following an incident on the Calder Highway on January 4 last year.
The Melbourne Supreme Court heard Sargeant’s driving on that day “certainly contributed to” a fatal collision between Wedderburn and Inglewood. The court heard Jamie McPherson, 70, of Violet Town, had 15 minutes before the crash asked Sargent to meet him on the Calder to help frighten and intimidate brothers Fred and Gary Whearem.
Gary Whearem and McPherson’s partner at the time had previously been in a relationship and “deep hostility” remained.
The court heard Sargent was driving at “a considerable speed” behind two cars – a blue Ford station wagon driven by Whearem with younger brother Fred a passenger, and McPherson and his partner in a brown Ford Fairmont.
Police estimated the cars were driving about nine kilometres above the 100km/h speed limit.
Justice Mark Weinberg said one witness stated they had “never seen such driving”.
“At one point … the three cars were spread out right across the roadway,” he said.
About 12.40pm, the passenger side of the brown Ford clipped the driver’s side of the blue Ford, causing Whearem to lose control of the car and crash head-on into a tree.
Both Gary and Fred Whearem died almost immediately.
McPherson lost control of the vehicle he was driving and crashed into a tree. He and his passenger suffered serious injuries.
Justice Mark Weinberg said Sargent had “participated in this act of folly solely in order to help a friend”, but it did not excuse his culpability. “ … you went along with his actions simply because he asked you to do so,” he said.
“Your involvement in this lunatic act was much shorter than that of McPherson.”
McPherson was sentenced to eight years jail.
