Victorian man, Diaz Ranasinghe, was today found not guilty of dangerous driving occasioning death in a judge alone trial before Acting Judge James Bennett at Albury District Court.
Mr Ranasinghe was charged after his truck loaded with kerosene collided with Robert Arnold who was riding a bicycle along Thyra Road, Moama, on the NSW-Victoria border on 8 December 2021. Mr Arnold tragically passed away in hospital.
The defence case was presented by David Price barrister instructed by Robert Candelori of McGirr & Associates. The essence of the defence case was that Mr Ranasinghe was faced with the invidious circumstance of a bicycle ahead, and a car from behind which the accused inferred was intending to overtake him. His Honour found, drawing on his own experience as a driver, that “the flashing of headlights of a vehicle coming from behind indicates the intention of the driver to overtake rather than an indication that they are not intending to do so.”
His Honour continued, finding “presented with this, the accused could not move to the right to safely pass the bicycle, but remained to the left on the correct side of the road anticipating that the vehicle coming from behind would overtake. Focussed as he was on the vehicle behind and anticipating that it would pass before he was more proximate to the bicycle when he might move to the right, slowing the truck in the process, he miscalculated time and distance and came upon the bicycle.
“In these circumstances the accused concedes that he was negligent in the choice he made to anticipate the passing of the vehicle coming from behind without keeping a proper lookout for the bicycle ahead so that he might manage the truck to avoid the collision which unfortunately occurred.”
Mr Ranasinghe conceded during the trial that the cyclist in no manner contributed to the collision other than by his mere presence.
His Honour ultimately concluded that he was not satisfied that “the admitted negligence that resulted in danger to the deceased was such a serious breach of the proper management and control by the accused of the truck at the time of the impact and in the circumstances in which it was driven so as to attract liability for the offence charged.”
Mr Ranasinghe was sentenced to the back-up charge of ‘negligent driving occasioning death’ and given a three-year Community Corrections Order and a disqualification of 3 years, commencing 8 December 2021. His Honour acknowledged the profound impact the incident had on the family of Mr Arnold, the deceased, together with the contrition and remorse of Mr Ranasinghe who had suffered severe post-traumatic stress in the aftermath.