A 26-year-old man will spend at least 12 months in jail for killing his daughter in a crash caused when he fell asleep while driving in Western Victoria.
Thomas Callum Huby said he had not slept properly for three nights, when he crashed his car into a tree in the Ballarat suburb of Cardigan in April 2016, killing his four-year-old daughter Isabella.
In the Ballarat County Court, Huby pleaded guilty to one count of culpable driving causing death.
During sentencing, Judge Elizabeth Gaynor told the court it was an unusual case.
"You were a particularly devoted father who had a special relationship with your daughter," the judge said.
"The tragic events have left you a shattered man."
'Unthinkable' death of daughter
The court heard the father of three had suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder since the crash.
"You have to live with what you consider the unthinkable, after causing the death of your own daughter," the judge said.
A toxicology report revealed Huby had cannabis and methamphetamines in his system, but the judge found it was not possible to prove the drugs contributed to the crash.
A lack of sleep was found to be the sole cause, after Huby's defence lawyer told the court he had only been getting two to three hours' sleep a night, because Isabella had been suffering night terrors and he was the only person who could settle her.
Death threats on social media
Judge Elizabeth Gaynor told the court Huby had suffered extra punishment after receiving death threats on social media.
"Media reports led to your intense and cruel ill-treatment," she said.
"People would yell at you in the streets 'You're the [expletive] that killed his kid'."
Huby was a chronic long-term marijuana user, but urine samples had shown since the crash he had been clean.
The 26-year-old was supported by his family in court, including his partner and Isabella's mother, Catherine, who embraced him in tears before he was taken into custody.
He was sentenced to a maximum of five years' jail and was told if he had not pleaded guilty he would have been sentenced to jail for seven years.
