The mother of a six-year-old girl who was killed in a buggy rollover says the five-year jail term handed to the driver was a “slap in the face”.
Olivia Stevens was one of seven children, all aged under 10, who were onboard the buggy without helmets or seatbelts when it crashed on September 11, 2021.
Damien Gibson, 36, was driving the overloaded vehicle on a farm at Rosedale in Victoria’s Gippsland region when he took a sharp turn and it rolled.
Olivia was flung from the buggy and then crushed under it.
She sustained critical injuries and was flown to the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne where she died.
The six other passengers, including Gibson’s five children, survived with minor injuries.
Gibson pleaded guilty to culpable driving causing Olivia’s death after accepting a sentence indication from County Court Judge Richard Maidment.
Gibson watched on a video link from prison as he was sentenced today to five years behind bars.
He will be eligible for parole in just over two years, having already served nearly eight months in custody.
Judge Maidment said it was clear Gibson had been grossly negligent in taking seven unrestrained children on a vehicle designed to carry only four people.
He did not seek permission from Olivia’s mother who had left her on a play date while she collected her son from a party, the judge noted.
Gibson also did not provide any of the children with helmets and he performed a sharp turn, knowing the terrain was uneven.
“The consequences of your negligence are tragic,” the judge said.
Judge Maidment accepted the loss to Olivia’s family was “utterly devastating” but said he needed to avoid giving a crushing sentence to Gibson.
He noted the 36-year-old had no prior convictions and had pleaded guilty, which showed his remorse.
The judge also considered the offending to be at the lower end of seriousness for culpable driving, as Gibson had not endangered other road users.
Olivia’s mother Yana Stevens said Gibson’s offending was devastating and there needed to be changes to the law to ensure people like him received harsher sentences.
“It’s a slap in the face for taking such a precious child, our only daughter, away,” she told reporters outside court.
“We literally dropped her off for 20 minutes and we’ll never see her again.”
Olivia was a bright and sassy girl who believed the best in everyone, Ms Stevens said.
“She knew how to break the most depressed person out of their shell and see the light and beauty in life,” Stevens said.
“She used to always say that ‘life’s all about love, Mum. It’s all about love’.”
A statue of a pink flamingo, one of Olivia’s favourite animals, will be displayed at her old school Gippsland Grammar to ensure the six-year-old’s memory lives on.
