A MAN who was under the influence of a combination of cocaine and cannabis when his car crossed to the wrong side of Wangi Road, bounced off a safety barrier and then careered head-on into a car, seriously injuring the female driver and her 12-year-old daughter, looks set to avoid a jail term after appealing against the severity of his 12-month jail term.
Matthew Roger Stone, 49, of Bonnells Bay, was in November last year jailed for a maximum of 12 months, with a non-parole period of six months after he pleaded guilty to two counts of dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm and driving with an illicit drug present in his blood.
But later that day, Stone re-appeared in Newcastle Local Court where he was granted conditional bail pending a severity appeal in Newcastle District Court, a process which has dragged on for the last 12 months.
Last week, Judge Roy Ellis upheld Stone's appeal and ordered the 49-year-old be assessed to determine if he can serve the 12-month sentence as an intensive corrections order with home detention.
The matter has dragged through the courts for so long that Stone served the two-year disqualification period for the crash before the matter was finalised.
The matter was adjourned until February, 2021.
Stone was approaching a slight left-hand bend on Wangi Road on April 29, 2018, when his car crossed entirely into the eastbound lanes, forcing a driver to take evasive action. Stone's car collided with a safety barrier, glanced back onto Wangi Road and crashed head-on with the front passenger side of another vehicle.
