Wayne Chivell, ex judge and coroner, fined $900 after causing delivery driver to have legs amputated
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Victim who had both of his legs amputated after a former judge accidentally rammed into him with his Porsche blasts the ‘terribly lenient’ $900 fine given to the driver
- Wayne Chivell hit accelerator instead of brake, mistakenly pinned Brenton Rowe
- Mr Rowe, who was delivery driving for OzHarvest, lost both legs in the crash
- Mr Chivell was fined just $900 and suspended from driving for nine months
- Mr Rowe said sentence was ‘terribly lenient’ for the devastation he’d suffered
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A retired judge has been fined $900 after accidentally slamming into a delivery driver – with the collision so bad, the victim had to have both of his legs amputated.
Wayne Chivell, 71, had stopped his Porsche at a red light on a highway in Plympton, Adelaide in December to tell OzHarvest driver Brenton Rowe, 66, that his rear door was open.
The pair were standing behind the truck but when Chivell returned to his car, he accidentally accelerated, ramming into Mr Rowe and pinning him against his vehicle.
A retired Australian judge, Wayne Chivell, was given a $900 fine after accidentally slamming into a delivery driver so hard in his Porsche that the man had both legs amputated
In ‘a fleeting moment of inattention’ Wayne Chivell, a former South Australian judge and coroner, hit the accelerator instead of the brake in the December 2021 crash
He later needed both legs amputated below the knees.
Chivell, a former South Australian judge and state coroner pleaded guilty to an aggravated count of careless driving.
As well as the fine, Chivell was disqualified from driving for nine months.
Mr Rowe has suffered depression, anxiety and ‘phantom pain’ since the accident, the Adelaide Magistrates Court heard on Friday.
‘I feel this is terribly lenient for the devastation it has caused in my life,’ he told the ABC after Chivell was fined.
The consequences for Brenton Rowe were ‘devastating’, Adelaide Magistrates Court heard
His wife has also had to give up her job to care for Mr Rowe, who said despite his injuries is now ‘in good spirits’ and determined to move on.
Magistrate John Wells accepted Chivell’s remorse and said ‘guilt weighs heavily on you’.
The 71-year-old apologised to his victim and said he’d like to speak to him in person when he was ready.
‘I’m very, very conscious of the pain and suffering that I have caused to him and his family,’ Chivell said outside court.
‘It’s something I very deeply regret.’
Mr Wells described the footage of the accident as ‘sickening’ but said it was obviously a ‘tragic accident’.
He put the accident down to ‘a fleeting moment of inattention’.
Judge Wells said Chivell’s remorse was ‘palpable and genuine’ and decided to reduce the maximum fine of $1,500 to $900.