The family of a 19-year-old man killed in a collision on the Monaro Highway last year have labelled sentencing of the person responsible "strongly inadequate".
Peter James Loeschnauer, 29, was sentenced to five years in jail in the ACT Supreme Court, after pleading guilty to culpable driving causing the death of 19-year-old Lachlan Seary.
In the early hours of 8 March 2021, Mr Seary was on his way home after being the designated driver for his friends.
Loeschnauer had also been out partying with friends, but climbed behind the wheel of his father's Honda Civic with alcohol and MDMA in his system.
The Civic was recorded travelling at 149 kilometres per hour by a speed camera before slamming into the back of Mr Seary's Toyota Corolla in the southbound lanes of the Monaro Highway near Hume, causing the car to smash into a tree.
When an Uber driver and his passenger came across the scene, Loeschnauer told the passenger that he had hit a kangaroo.
The passenger then spotted the crumpled Corolla and called police.
Mr Seary suffered catastrophic head injuries and died at the scene.
At a sentencing hearing in February, Mr Seary's parents told the court not only of their horror in learning that their son had been killed, but of the serious long-term impacts his death has had on the family.
Family says sentencing is 'strongly inadequate'
In September last year, Loeschnauer pleaded guilty to culpable driving causing death, as well as drink and drug driving.
In sentencing, Acting Justice Verity McWilliam applied a discount to the jail term for the guilty plea.
She said the crash resulted from a chain of conscious decisions by Loeschnauer, whose "remorse and torment about what he had done was written across his face".
When it came to trying to reflect the impact on the victim's family in the sentencing, Acting Justice McWilliam said "it would be wrong to attempt any such equation".
Outside court, Lachlan's father Gary Seary thanked police and prosecutors for their efforts but said he was disappointed by the sentence.
"The nature of the sentence is strongly inadequate," Mr Seary said.
Mr Seary said more frustrating was the fact that his son had died doing the right thing by being a designated driver, while Loeschnauer had taken his father's car after he had already been drinking for several hours.
Lachlan's mother Janice Seary said her son, a promising ice hockey player with aspirations of playing in the national league, had his life snatched away just as it was beginning.
"He was so happy, he had a great friendship group, work was good, relationships were good, our family was whole and happy," Ms Seary said.
"We've heard so many stories about Lachy since he died and we could not be prouder parents.
"He was designated driver that night and that's just typical of what he was doing: looking after his friends."
Ms Seary said the family was focused on thinking about Lachlan's life now the hearing had concluded.
"It's been really really hard – I've been stuck in thinking about his death," Ms Seary said.
"Hopefully today's the end of that."
Loeschnauer will be eligible for parole in December 2024.
