THE 28-year-old Hampton Park man, whose driving was impaired by the drugs and alcohol in his system when he crossed double lines and killed Poowong teenager Noah Peacock in a fiery car crash on the South Gippsland Highway in August 2022, could walk free from prison as early as May next year.
Jayden Tyler Colverd, who had earlier pleaded guilty to two charges, one of dangerous driving causing death and another of failing to render assistance at the scene, was facing maximum penalties of 10 years on each charge.
But in the Melbourne County Court on Wednesday this week, October 23, Colverd was sentenced to a total period of incarceration of four years, made up of three years and three months on the “dangerous driving causing death” charge and two years, three months on the “failing to render assistance” charge.
Nine months of the sentence for the second charge will be served cumulatively, making the total sentence four years with a minimum of two years and nine months to serve.
Colverd has already served 798 days of the sentence, being in custody since the incident at Jeetho on August 11, 2022.
In handing down her sentence, shortly after 10am in Court 3.1 of the William Street County Court complex, Judge Nola Karapanagiotidis acknowledged that the penalty in no way reflected the value of Noah’s life or the devastation felt by both the family and the local community.
Instead it was the result of wide range of factors including the seriousness of the wrongdoing, considered as “mid-range” by the court and both legal counsels, aggravating circumstances including the drugs and alcohol in Colverd’s system, risk taking behaviour on the day including driving while disqualified and speeding, fleeing the scene and prior offending, but also mitigating factors including the offender’s age, his early guilty plea, prospects for rehabilitation, difficult family circumstances, drug and alcohol use from an early age now under treatment, Colverd’s remorse and the recent diagnosis of ADHD and PTSD.
Just as it has been right through the legal process, the court room was filled with the family and friends of Noah who had made their final pilgrimage to Melbourne from Poowong, Korumburra, Leongatha and the surrounding area to witness the dispensing of justice after what the judge described as “the tragic and wholly avoidable circumstances at Jeetho on August 11, 2022”.
As Colverd was being led from court, a family member directed remarks in the offender’s direction.
The court heard an account of what happened prior to the crash, at the scene between Loch and Korumburra at about 4.20pm on Thursday, August 11, 2022 and afterwards before sentencing.
More to follow.
