Newcastle District Court Judge Roy Ellis on Tuesday said Joshua Knight’s actions when he left his victim, Ian Pullen, to die on the side of the road, were “morally reprehensible”.
Knight, 31, and Nicole Mason, 32, a Toyota HiLux passenger who struck Mr Pullen, 43, outside Singleton in September 2018, were initially charged with murder after being accused of returning to the scene to “finish the job”. Mason allegedly hit the pilot in the head with an object.
The murder charges were later dropped after a forensic pathologist concluded that Mr Pullen would have succumbed to his injuries within 30 minutes of being beaten, with or without medical assistance.
Knight pleaded guilty Tuesday to failing to stop and assist after a fatal crash, failing to stop for police and property damage.
Mason pleaded guilty to concealing a serious offense.
The New Zealand pilot arrived at Newcastle Airport on 28 September 2018 at 16:50 before heading to Singleton for dinner.
Police said Mr. Pullen was later seen drunk and stumbling along Carrington Street on his way to his stay at Wylands Caravan Park around 4:15 p.m.
Knight was driving his 4WD when he saw Mr Pullen standing on the road and braking, but hit the pilot. Mr Pullen was only 20 meters from the caravan park.
Knight stopped the vehicle and got out with Mason to get to Mr. Pullen, who was still alive, to watch before driving away without trying to help the seriously injured pilot.
Knight was only arrested in February 2020.
In a victim impact statement read to the court on Tuesday, Mr. Pullen’s wife, Vicki, said Knight destroyed her life and the lives of her children.
Mrs Pullen said the couple had been together for 25 years, her husband was her best friend and she assisted him in helping him pursue his dreams of becoming such an award-winning and respected pilot.
She said his death led to her losing their home because she had no income and she had to fight breast cancer without him last year.
The fact that it took more than three and a half years for Knight to admit what he did and plead guilty made her feel disgusted in the human race, Ms Pullen said.
Defense attorney Paul Rosser QC said what Knight did was “reprehensible”, “contemptuous” and “an act of bastardy”, but Mr Pullen would still have died even if Knight had called an ambulance.
“Objectively, nothing could be done,” Mr Rosser said.
“It does not excuse him. It does not excuse what could be said was his numbness.”
Judge Ellis said it was not known whether Mr. Pullen was in his consciousness after he was run over and whether Knight could have done anything to alleviate his suffering if he had stayed with him before he died.
Defense attorney Peter Krisenthal, for Mason, said she was struggling with her own illegal drug use when Mr Pullen was run over.
“It was a situation that involved panic. It was a situation that involved wrong loyalty,” Mr Krisenthal said.
Knight was jailed for three years and two months with a minimum of two years and four months, while Mason was jailed for 14 months with a minimum of seven months.