Crash Destroys Two Families

[Turd Ferguson]

Crash wrecked two families | The Courier-Mail

A DRINK-driving P-plater is stuck in a personal Hell. He killed his best mate in a crash. Then his mum was murdered by his mate's vengeful dad, who then killed himself.

With two families destroyed, the small rural community he lives in divided, and his own life in ruins, Brenton David Chaplin is facing a lengthy jail term .

Leigh Charter, 20, died when Chaplin, a P-plater who had been drinking, lost control of his speeding Holden Commodore and slammed into a pole in eastern Victoria in January 2008.

In an ``act of pure revenge'', Mr Charter's father, also named Leigh, murdered Mr Chaplin's mother Wendy and critically injured his father Trevor in their Harcourt North home 13 months later. Mr Charter Sr then took his own life.

The tragedy has ``effectively destroyed two entire families'', Victoria's chief crown prosecutor Gavin Silbert SC told the Victorian County Court on Thursday. And it has left Harcourt, a small central Victorian town with a population of less than 500, a divided society. Judge Ross Howie said he had no option but to jail Chaplin, 22, who pleaded guilty to culpable driving.

The tragedy began unfolding after five mates, all aged under 21, headed from Harcourt across the state to the Gippsland holiday town of Seaspray. A few hours after arriving in the town, the boys headed for a park near where they were staying and enjoyed a barbie, beer and bourbon.

Then they made the fateful decision to visit a female friend in another part of the town. Chaplin had consumed the least amount of alcohol, and it was decided that he should drive.

As they drove through the Honeysuckles Estate on Shoreline Drive, local resident Susanne Somerville remembers hearing a sound like a ``jet approaching''.

A short time later, as Chaplin fiddled with the radio, he lost control of the car and hit a pole. Mr Charter, who was not wearing a seatbelt, was thrown from the vehicle and died.

Chaplin was found to have been travelling at 46km/h over the 80km/h speed limit and had a ``conservative'' blood alcohol concentration of .085 per cent. As a provisional driver he was not supposed to have any alcohol in his system. A shattered Chaplin banged his head on the bitumen at the crash scene.

In the days and weeks that followed, he and his family tried to express their sympathy to Mr Charter's family, but their condolences were rejected.

The Chaplins even held their own funeral for Mr Charter. Mr Charter's father fell into a deep depression as he grieved the loss of his son, and on February 11, 2009, he took revenge.

Armed with a knife, he stabbed fatally Wendy Chaplin, 44, critically wounded Mr Chaplin's father Trevor, and tried to kill the accused's brother Cameron and cousin Paul.

Judge Howie must now deliver a sentence that will please nobody.
Not the Charters, who say Chaplin should receive the maximum sentence for culpable driving of 20 years.
Nor the Chaplins, who say he has suffered enough already and should not be jailed.

At the completion of Thursday's pre-sentence hearing, Chaplin's family and supporters, including AFL legend Doug Hawkins, wept as he was remanded in custody. He will be sentenced on February 15.

 

[edals]

Crash wrecked two families | The Courier-Mail

Im Speachless. :rip:

 

[STEALTHY™]

Crash destroyed one family. ****ed up person destroyed the other.

/thread

 

[Tatiana]

Here in SA today 3 young lads were buried together in a combined service held on the oval of their local community. They were killed on Australia Day when the car they were in crashed into a tree.

The lad that was driving survived. From what I can determine it was not due to alcohol or speed, just a freak tragic accident. A girl who works for us comes from that community and was close to one of the families involved, hence why I have these facts.

He was not allowed to attend the service today to say goodbye to the mates he killed.

What an awful thing to have to live with.

 

[vr94ss]

That and Sashyre's short story are just really sad. Not only because of the losses but because of emotion ruling rationality. I have three sons. 21, 17 almost 18 and one 15 that will going for his L's in December and I've thought about the possibility of this kind of **** happening for years.

The odds are that at least one of them at some stage will be a passenger or driver when **** goes down and have vowed and keep reinforcing it in my mind that if that happens, I must use reason over emotion. Everyone does stupid **** at some point in their lives and unless those in the car try to stop them they are just as at fault. I have told my kids to just ask to get out and ring. Don't know that will happen, I hope so.

Even though these kids driving are the actual ones at fault, there's no doubt in my mind that having to live with that for the rest of your life would be horrific. It would be to me.

So.. I s'pose I'm hoping people act rationally, not likely I know but considering statistics if you have sons you should at least be ready for the knock at the door.

My 21yo almost killed himself on a BMX last year doing some stupid stunt down a flight of stairs:/ Still recovering. No matter how many times you tell 'em not to be a dick at some point......

Be rational people..

 

[Tatiana]

VR94ss: I have adult kids also, 23, 20 and 18. I know what you are saying about the fear of losing a child through wreckless stuipidity.

However, you can reinforce over and over to them how to take care of themselves in all sorts of situations but most of us think we are invincible and it won't happen to us. I can recall countless situations where I should have ended it, such as being a passenger in an idiots car, but I chanced it.

Some of us make it through, others don't. Nothing will ever change.

 

[strgas]

you cant stop stupid from being stupid just hope your well out of the way when stupid comes around you .

 

[S.T.K.E]

As we have all heard Stupid is What Stupid Does.
It's events like this which sink in the most. When you do stupid things like this, Do you want to be the person responsible for the death of your family members or close mates.

 

[Mark1990]

RIP Brock, Jake and Matt. Compass will never be the same

 

[vr94ss]

VR94ss: I have adult kids also, 23, 20 and 18. I know what you are saying about the fear of losing a child through wreckless stuipidity.

However, you can reinforce over and over to them how to take care of themselves in all sorts of situations but most of us think we are invincible and it won't happen to us. I can recall countless situations where I should have ended it, such as being a passenger in an idiots car, but I chanced it.

Some of us make it through, others don't. Nothing will ever change.

I know what you're saying and I'm not disagreeing. I do reinforce, youtube is great for examples. I made it through too Was it luck or skill? I can tell you sometimes it's just the luck of the draw. I took way too many chances when I look back.

That's one of the reasons I'm saying IF **** happens then don't use emotion for decisions, use reason. I'm no saint I can tell ya. I haven't had an accident since I was 21, almost 30 years ago, but I wrote off two ZB Fairlanes and an RX4 before that.

We all f'up.

edit: Also haven't lost a point on my liscense since I was 25 when I unfortunately/fortunately lost them all and my job.. Excess 0.08 in WA before it changed to 0.05. No liscence, no mechanics job..

Edit2: I also think emotion should not be taken into consideration in making law. Law should be rational.