The Porsche driver who outraged a nation as he filmed the aftermath of a horror crash on the Eastern Freeway that killed four Victorian police officers in April last year is expected to learn his fate today.
Richard Pusey’s lawyer has asked that his client serve no further prison time for filming the dying police officers after Pusey was deemed unsuitable for a community correction order by Corrections Victoria.
Pusey is to be sentenced on the rare charge of outraging public decency. The charge arose from Pusey’s actions in filming the horrific accident scene along with his disgusting commentary of what he was seeing.
Corrections Victoria’s rejection of Pusey as being suitable for a community correction order angered County Court judge, Trevor Wraight, who slammed the assessment as “disturbing”.
“The attitude of Corrections is he is beyond rehabilitation … it’s disturbing,” the judge said. “I am absolutely astounded the way this case has been treated.”
Community correction orders are common place in sentencing and it is rare that a person is deemed unsuitable.
Pusey has so far served 295 days in custody, with prosecutors calling for him to serve more time, while his own legal team say he should be given a good behaviour bond.
Leading Senior Constable Lynette Taylor, Senior Constable Kevin King and constables Glen Humphris and Josh Prestney were hit and killed when drug-affected truck driver, Mohinder Singh, veered into the emergency lane and collided with the officers on April 22 last year.
Earlier this month, Singh was jailed for 22 years after pleading guilty to four charges of culpable driving causing death.
Police had been dealing with Pusey at the location, after pulling him over for allegedly driving at 149km/h, when the accident happened.
In footage recovered from Leading Senior Constable Lynette Taylor’s body camera, Pusey is seen saying: “There you go.”
While surveying the scene with his phone camera, he zoomed in on the officers’ injuries and damaged cars. At one point saying, “That is f…ing justice. Absolutely amazing, that is f…ing amazing…You c…s, I guess I’ll be getting a f…ing Uber home, huh.”
Pusey will today also be sentenced for possessing a drug of dependence, speeding and reckless conduct endangering life, related to speeding in a separate incident weeks before the Kew crash.
