Porsche driver Richard Pusey will be free from prison in days after being jailed for sending graphic photos of dying police officers to the financial services watchdog.
Images from the April 2020 Eastern Freeway crash that killed four police were attached to a November 2021 complaint Pusey sent to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority.
Pusey, who uses they/them pronouns, was found guilty by Magistrate Michelle Mykytowycz of using a carriage service to cause offence over their use of the "terribly graphic" pictures.
They had lodged a complaint with the authority after PSC Insurance Brokers, underwritten by Dawes Motor Insurance, refused to indemnify his 2016 Porsche 911, which was significantly damaged in the Eastern Freeway crash.
Pusey had made a $2.2 million insurance claim over car, which was valued at $415,000.
Ms Mykytowycz said it was hard to conceive of a more serious example of the offence she found Pusey guilty of.
The four images each showed one or more of the deceased officers, with the circumstances of their deaths and injuries plain to see.
"Once seen, these images cannot be unseen," she said.
Their use in the complaint was nothing more than gratuitous, and belied the dignity each of the officers deserved, she said.
Pusey had expressed in the authority complaint how graphic and traumatising the scene was, yet took the unjustifiable risk of sending the images - without any warning about their graphic nature - to an organisation which existed to help him with his financial concerns, the magistrate observed.
Harry Ganavas, who received the images, described being repulsed and feeling physically ill after viewing them.
Ms Mykytowycz added that Pusey also unnecessarily and callously described the officers deaths in the text portion of the complaint.
She highlighted the need for deterring his ongoing criminal offending with her sentence, noting they had a continued attitude of disobedience of the law.
Pusey was sentenced to 10 months behind bars. With time served she expected they would be released in days.
Ms Mykytowycz was also forced to view the graphic images as part of hearing the case and spoke candidly after handing down the sentence about the high regard she holds for first responders.
"First line responders ... do a remarkable job and I can only think they must suffer some level of cumulative trauma the more significant events they attend," she said.
"I really want to convey my thanks and gratitude to those first line responders."
