The defence counsel for the driver of a mini-bus involved in a fatal crash at Arcadia South where an Echuca woman died has argued his client should be spared jail for medical reasons.
Bruce Kenneth Slater, 77, of Gunbower, pleaded guilty in Melbourne County Court to dangerous driving causing death and three counts of dangerous driving causing serious injury.
Slater was the volunteer driver on a bus trip from Gunbower and through northern and north-eastern Victoria taking a group to look at silo art when the fatal crash occurred at Arcadia South just before 3.30pm on May 20, 2021.
The court heard the bus travelled for 104m with at least one side of it in the gravel on the left side of the Murchison-Violet Town Rd, before Slater corrected it, driving across the road, into a ditch on the opposite side and into a paddock where the mini-bus rolled at least twice.
A 40-year-old Echuca woman, who was a passenger, died at the scene.
Three other passengers were flown to Melbourne hospitals with life-threatening injuries.
At an early part of the hearing in May this year, prosecutor Jonathon McCarthy said some of the passengers became increasingly “concerned about his driving”, with one passenger saying Slater had “wandered” on to the gravel twice during that section of road, while two other passengers said it had happened two or three times.
One passenger said Slater had driven off on to the gravel shoulder of the road “10 times” during the entire trip.
Slater’s GP, Dr Clare Bottcher, gave evidence in court on Wednesday, August 7, about her client’s medical issues.
They included heart problems, including having a heart attack in January that required a stent, as well as having cardiac failure in May this year and in 2023.
He also has silent ischaemia, which means heart problems show as a person having shortness of breath.
Slater has type 2 diabetes, which needs to be managed with insulin injections four times each day.
The ischaemic heart disease means that Slater may be more prone to need defibrillation.
Dr Bottcher said his diabetes, when combined with his other medical issues, also needed more careful observations.
The court heard Slater also has stage four kidney disease — which is only one step down from needing to be on dialysis.
He is currently in respite care at a nursing home in Cohuna, and has been there since he was discharged from hospital in June when he had been hospitalised for a few days with high sugar levels.
He normally lives with his brother at Gunbower, but his brother had to have surgery himself and Slater was moved to a nursing home while his brother recovers.
Dr Bottcher told the court she had concerns about the care her client would receive in the prison system, particularly around the timeliness of being given medications.
As far as the chronic kidney disease went, Dr Bottcher said from her experience with Slater in the past six to eight months there was “a narrow window between it being able to be managed and crisis level”.
Victorian Department of Justice and Community Safety adult health director Jackie Ashmore told the court how Slater’s medical conditions would be managed in custody.
She spoke of how there was a sub-acute unit — which was basically an aged care unit — at one prison, and how one was being built at another prison.
Ms Ashmore also spoke of 24-hour medical units in some prisons with high ratios of registered nurses to patients.
She told the court the prison staff could administer Slater’s insulin four times a day.
She also explained how if he had cardiac failure, Slater would be taken to St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne, or any closer hospital if he was taken in an ambulance during an emergency.
She said he could also have medical appointments with doctors about his kidneys.
Mr Blake argued that compelling and exceptional circumstances that were rare existed that could allow Slater not to be sentenced to mandatory prison.
He said Slater was aged 77 and had several diagnoses that could lead to “critical conditions”.
“It’s the case that if medications are not managed properly or conditions were not picked up on, there could be a severe impact on his health, or it could be fatal,” Mr Blake said.
The prosecutor, however, said Slater’s conditions needed to be taken seriously, but treatment was available in custody.
“They are entitled to receive care in custody and unless that car is inadequate, it’s not rare,” he said.
Slater will be sentenced later in August. He remains on bail until then.