A former New South Wales Police officer from the Central Coast has been found guilty of negligent driving occasioning death in a Sydney District Court.
Matthew James Kelly, 51, pleaded not guilty to the charge relating to the death of a motorbike rider during a police pursuit at Blue Haven in 2020.
He was initially accused of manslaughter and dangerous driving occasioning death but was acquitted after a four-week jury trial last month.
The court heard that Kelly, who was attached to the Tuggerah Lakes police district, initiated the police pursuit in the early hours of April 16 2020 after seeing a a rider in dark clothing on a motorbike rider without the lights on.
Jack Roberts, who was riding the motorcycle, fled and died after being hit by the police vehicle during the pursuit.
Kelly was found guilty of the backup charge of negligent driving occasioning death in judge-alone trial in Sydney District Court on Wednesday.
Judge Penelope Hock said the Crown had proved beyond reasonable doubt that Kelly was driving negligently during the pursuit and that his driving occasioned Mr Robert's death.
The also court heard that Kelly had driven "too close" to the motorbike during the pursuit and that Kelly admitted during a police interview that he had considered bumping the motorcycle to block the rider.
The pursuit ended on Blue Haven Way when Mr Roberts swerved in front of the police vehicle.
He was thrown off the motorcycle and was subsequently run over by the police car.
The court heard that Kelly had resigned from the police force after the fatal pursuit due to emotional stress.
The court also heard that while Mr Roberts had drugs such as methamphetamine in his system at the time of death, it was unlikely that contributed to his death.
Judge Hock said she had hoped to sentence Kelly straight away, but the legal parties sought leave to finalise their sentencing submissions.
She said that given the evidence she "would not send this offender to full-time custody".
The Crown had argued the sentence should be served by way of an intensive corrections order, which the defence argued would be too harsh.
The defence said it would make submissions asking for the matter to be dealt with by way of a community corrections order.
The matter is due back in court in June for sentencing submissions.
