SA: Drink driver who killed cyclist jailed at least 10 months

AAP General News (Australia)
08-12-2009
SA: Drink driver who killed cyclist jailed at least 10 months

By Steve Larkin

ADELAIDE, Aug 12 AAP - A drink driver who crashed into and killed a former work colleague
on a bicycle has been jailed for at least 10 months.

South Australian District Court Judge Michael Boylan said defence submissions that
jailing Darren James Rudland would do him no good were "probably true".

But Judge Boylan said a jail sentence was needed to send a message that the community
did not tolerate drink driving.

Rudland, 40, of McLaren Flat, was drink driving in January last year when his car crashed
into a cyclist - a former work colleague, Alistair Smith.

Mr Smith, a married father of two, died instantly when his head went through the windscreen
of Rudland's car.

Rudland, in "panic and shock", fled the accident scene before returning about an hour
later to confess his involvement in the crash, Judge Boylan said.

Rudland's blood alcohol level was 0.08 per cent or higher, the judge said on Wednesday
when sentencing the vineyard worker to two years and six months jail with a 10-month non-parole
period.

Rudland had been suicidal since the fatal crash, his lawyer, Julian Kelly, previously
told the court.

"You fully realise the seriousness of what you have done and the hurt you have caused
many people," Judge Boylan told Rudland on Wednesday.

The judge accepted that Rudland, who pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving
and leaving an accident scene, didn't see the cyclist.

But he told Rudland his drink driving conviction in 1996 "should have been a warning
to you to never drink and drive again".

AAP sl/ldj/de

KEYWORD: RUDLAND

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