Protesters holding signs with the words "march for Matthew" and "put victims first" gathered to demand stronger rights for victims in the wake of a killer's successful appeal.
On Friday, August 14, the group of people marched from Civic Square to the ACT Law Courts building to protest the expected lowering of Shakira Adams' jail sentence.
Matthew McLuckie, 20, was tragically killed when a stolen Volkswagen Golf, driven on the wrong side of the road by a drug-addled Adams, crashed into his Holden Astra in May 2022.
Adams, 24, was travelling at no less than 177kmh and up to 186kmh in an 80kmh zone at the time of the Hindmarsh Drive collision.
In December last year, she was handed a 14-year jail sentence with a nine-year non-parole period.
Three judges in the ACT Court of Appeal are now set to resentence Adams after the prosecution conceded errors had been made in the original sentence.
The court also heard she was being housed in segregation in the jail's management unit with male inmates in breach of her human rights.
Matthew's father, Tom McLuckie, was not present during Friday's march, but a statement read out on his behalf to the gathered protesters said the ACT courts "have failed in the doing of justice on our behalf".
"When we reduce taking a life to a mere clinical or human rights issue to be treated and disadvantage to be understood and used as justification of wrongdoing, we diminish the value of the life that was stolen or harmed," he said.
Tom McLuckie argued the justice system showered empathy, care and resources on offenders while "the victim and the crime are itself reduced to background noise".
"Matthew is dead because of the willful recklessness of another person. This needs to be recognised through sentencing from our courts, first and foremost," he said in the statement.
"This court needs to recognise the harm done to Matthew and his family as primary and most important purpose of sentence.
"Victims deserve a voice, victims have rights. Matthew was denied his right to life and Matthew deserves justice."
In December last year, Chief Justice Lucy McCallum sentenced Adams to a rare maximum penalty for the crime.
Adams had pleaded guilty to culpable driving causing death and driving a stolen motor vehicle.
Her guilty plea took years, with multiple failed fitness to plead applications, an appeal, adjournments, hearings and an expected trial.
Adams suffered a severe traumatic brain injury as a result of the crash she caused, with much time in court spent debating the effects of the injury.
The prosecution's conceded errors in the appeal included that Adams' moral culpability was reduced by her disadvantaged childhood and complex post-traumatic stress disorder diagnosis, resulting in the case not being in "the worst category" for its type.
One of the protest organisers, John Mikita, the grandson of Irma Palasics who was brutally killed in a home invasion in 1999, spoke to the gathered group before the march.
"Matthew's family has lost his son and nothing can change that," Mr Mikita said.
"And while no sentence can ever undo that loss, families deserve to know that the justice system is working for them.
"This isn't about attacking one person or even one case. It's about asking some very serious questions about a system that too often leaves victims and their families feeling as though they come second."
Mr Mikita said he knew the feeling personally. In April, two men, Joseph Vekony and Steve Favbriczy, were found guilty of killing his grandmother and bashing her husband, Gregor, in a home invasion.
"Today we stand with Matthew's family, we stand for justice, we're going to stand for accountability, and we are going to stand for a justice system that puts victims and their families at the heart of their decision making," Mr Mikita told the crowd.
"Thank you for making sure that Matthew's family know that they are not standing alone."
The court will hand down Adams' resentence at a later date.
