VIC:Driver jailed for Vic triple fatality

AAP General News (Australia)
08-22-2011
VIC:Driver jailed for Vic triple fatality

By Michelle Draper

MELBOURNE, Aug 22 AAP - An Indian student has been jailed for more than 10 years for
causing a head-on collision in which he wiped out three members of one family on a highway
north of Melbourne.

Two teenage girls, now aged 14 and 16, were left orphaned when Gurwinder Singh, 25,
crashed into the family's Volkswagen near Merton, northeast of Melbourne, in May 2009.

Singh was jailed for 10 and a half years on Monday over the head-on collision that
killed Basil "Tex" Rehe, 55, his wife Robyn and his sister Suzanne, both 45.

Singh was overtaking a semi-trailer on the Maroondah Highway at 118km/h when he over-corrected
and spun into the oncoming lane of traffic, colliding with the Rehes' car.

Mr Rehe's mother Joyce, 75, and his then 12-year-old daughter Abbey were seriously
injured in the crash, along with one of Singh's passengers, Amandeep Singh (no relation).

Mr Rehe's sister Angie said the family had been hit hard by the multiple fatalities.

"It breaks a family apart to have so much grief, so many people missing, so many people's
lives changed and so many ongoing things to deal with," Ms Rehe told reporters outside
the Victorian County Court on Monday.

"It wasn't a split-second bad decision, it was a series of foolish, reckless, selfish
decisions," she said of Singh's driving.

Ms Rehe said she did not think the sentence handed down to Singh sent a strong enough
message when the maximum penalty for culpable driving was 20 years' jail.

She said an apologetic letter written by Singh and read out to the court was too little,
too late.

"It's all very well to claim remorse now and say you're sorry in a letter to the court,
but only after you've been convicted.

"I think that's too little too late."

Judge Rachelle Lewitan said Tex and Robyn Rehe's two teenage girls were suffering considerably
because of the loss of their parents.

Their deaths had been felt widely, with each having children from previous marriages.

"Your conduct has had tragic and far-reaching consequences for the Rehe family," Judge
Lewitan said in sentencing Singh.

"Three members of the family have died and two members of that family have sustained
serious injury which will affect them for the rest of their lives.

"In one moment, a 12-year-old child has lost both parents.

"Suzanne, Basil and Robyn Rehe were much loved and will be sorely missed."

In his letter, Singh apologised to the Rehe family.

"From the bottom of my heart, if I could swap my life for theirs, I would, in an instant,"

the letter said.

Singh, who arrived in Australia on a student visa in July 2008, will likely be deported
to India upon his release.

He was driving back from a day at Mount Buller when he hit the Rehes' car, as they
were returning to Wodonga.

Singh, formerly of Murrumbeena, was found guilty by a jury of three counts of culpable
driving and three of negligently causing serious injury.

Judge Lewitan ordered he serve seven years before becoming eligible for parole.

AAP md/mn/it/jl

KEYWORD: SINGH WRAP (PIX AVAILABLE)

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