A Melbourne father who ploughed into a 10-year-old boy after running a red light at a pedestrian crossing in a moment of "inattention" has walked free from court.
Zhao Hui Lu, 49, today appeared in the Supreme Court of Victoria where he was convicted and sentenced to a three-year community-based order over the death of Jack Power at Blackburn North in 2018.
He was also ordered to complete 300 hours of unpaid work, and stripped of his driver's licence.
Justice Amanda Fox said Lu failed to pay attention for a matter of seconds but said there was an alternative to jail.
"This crime is one where there is no... intention to kill or injure," she said.
"There is nothing that elevates your blameworthiness.
"You were within the speed limit, your vehicle was roadworthy, you were not fatigued and you had not been observed prior to the collision driving in any way that could be considered unsafe.
But the judge said the fatal crash was a lesson for everyone behind the wheel.
"All drivers need to understand that they must at all times pay due care and attention," she said.
"The result of even a very short period of inattention as this case demonstrates can result in tragedy."
Van driven by Lu ploughed through crossing
In August 2018, Jack was crossing Springfield Road with his younger sister and a friend when he was struck and killed by Lu, who ran a red light.
The three children were on the way home from the supermarket, where they were buying snacks.
Security footage shows the trio, who had spent the day playing at a family function, walking past a 7-Eleven and then reaching the intersection of Springfield Road and Williams Road.
It was dark and it had been raining.
The court heard that as they crossed, the oldest girl saw a van hurtling towards the crossing and realised it was not stopping.
She dragged Jack's sister across the road but Jack, who was walking behind them, was struck.
When the two girls reached the other side, they saw that Jack's white umbrella and a shoe was scattered across the road. His body lay not far away.
"Jack was lying on the road at the back of your van," the judge said
"They started screaming."
The court heard that Lu rushed out of his van and placed Jack on the nature strip, before calling emergency services in extreme distress.
His mother, Bonnie Power, arrived at the scene to find a stranger performing CPR on her son.
Jack was taken to the Royal Children's Hospital where doctors discovered he had a profound brain injury.
He died the next day.
Court hears boy's family and driver 'deeply affected' by his death
Collision reconstruction experts later found that Lu had been driving at no less than 52 kilometres an hour when his vehicle entered the crossing.
In a victim impact statement Ms Power, Jack's mother, told the court about her devastation.
"I can't stop myself from crying," she said.
She said her daughter was profoundly traumatised.
"She shared with me the image that keeps playing in her head.
"She turns around to see where Jack is, but he is not there. She looks up and down the street and starts to panic as he is nowhere to be seen. Then she finally finds him laying on the road
"The scene is a recurring memory that [she] says she has every few days and has done since the night of the accident. She has lived silently with that hell loop in her head for three and a half years, and it has only just surfaced now."
Jack's father Matt Power said he was devastated by the outcome.
"From all reports he [Lu] was very remorseful, apologetic. I believe on the anniversary of Jack's passing he takes flowers and he's doing it tough as well.
"We're all doing it tough."
The court heard that Lu was also "deeply affected" by the crash and has developed post-traumatic stress disorder.
Justice Fox told the court that he still places flowers at the scene of the crash every year, and after Jack died, he took on the Buddhist practice of vegetarianism "to show respect for the life you took".
"You think about it every day, have nightmares about it and at times, visions of Jack hitting your windscreen break into your consciousness," the judge said.
"You work hard to the point of exhaustion to try and ensure that when you do go to bed you will fall asleep."
