The young driver who fatally hit South Australian Police Commissioner Grant Stevens’ son Charlie has avoided jail over the hit-and-run tragedy during Schoolies week.
Dhirren Singh Randhawa, 19, of Encounter Bay, was sentenced on Tuesday in the South African District Court to one year, one month and seven days in jail, with a non-parole period of seven months, suspended on condition of good behavior for two years.
He has also been banned from driving for 10 years.
He had pleaded guilty to aggravated driving without due care and leaving the scene of an accident at Goolwa Beach, south of Adelaide, on November 17.
The circumstances of the tragedy were revealed during the sentencing presentation.
Charlie Stevens, 18, and three friends were celebrating Schoolies at a Goolwa Beach shack owned by his family, the court was told.
They had called Randhawa at 9pm to ask for a ride to Victor Harbor but he refused, explaining that he did not want to risk demerit points on his P plates.
He performed a U-turn and struck Mr. Stevens, causing him irreversible brain damage. He died at Flinders Medical Center the following day.
Dhirren Randhawa avoided jail for the accident that caused the death of Charlie Stevens
Randhawa drove away “in shock and disbelief” but stopped when he saw a police car and told them what had happened.
In court on October 3, Randhawa addressed Mr. Stevens’ family and told them that finding out Charlie’s life support had been turned off “was the hardest thing I’ve ever heard in my life.”
“To Charlie’s parents, seeing you on TV and talking about Charlie made me deeply sad,” he said.
‘There are many things I would like to say, but most of all I want to say that I am sorry. And I’m sorry, Charlie.
Grant Stevens said ‘there isn’t a day we don’t shed a tear thinking about our son’
In his victim statement, Grant Stevens told Randhawa he “couldn’t understand what he had taken from us.”
“There isn’t a day that we don’t shed a tear thinking about our son and how much we miss him,” Stevens said in court, with his wife, Emma, by his side.
‘Charlie was a vibrant, caring, fun-loving and generous young man, who loved life and had plans for the future. Now all we have are his memories and that’s not enough.’
Following the sentencing decision, Stevens said he was grateful the court process was over.
‘We are grateful that Dhirren decided to plead guilty to this offence, because that brought this party to a much quicker conclusion.
“It’s one of those things we’re still learning to live with, every day without Charlie, it’s not getting any easier, as I’m sure people who’ve lost a child would appreciate.”
