SA truck driver who killed cyclist in hit-and-run crash jailed for at least two years, five months

A South Australian truck driver will serve at least two years and five months in jail for killing a Victorian cyclist in a hit-and-run crash in the Coorong in January 2019.

Daniel Luke Barry was found guilty by a Mount Gambier District Court jury of driving dangerously and killing 60-year-old cyclist Daryl Adams on the Princes Highway, between Kingston SE and Meningie.

Mr Adams was riding from Melbourne to be in Adelaide for the Tour Down Under.

District Court Judge Stephen McEwen today sentenced 39-year-old Barry to four years jail with a non-parole period of two years and five months.

He also banned him from driving for 10 years.

Last month, Barry disputed the prosecution submission that he knew he had hit Mr Adams.

He told the court that he was unaware of the collision because he was listening to loud music but handed himself over to police after looking at the front of his truck later that day.

But his story was today rejected by the court.

“I find the defendant’s claim that he sat in the driver’s seat of the truck and remained totally oblivious to the fact that the front left portion of his truck had collided with a bicycle and its rider totally implausible,” Judge McEwen said.

He said Barry’s testimony on the stand was “vague, inconsistent and lacking in credibility”.

“This was not a glancing collision alongside of the truck — the evidence shows the bicycle and its rider were carried forward by the front of the truck,” he said.

Judge McEwen said Mr Adams was carried more than 60 metres down the road.

But he said the crash did not involve excessive speed, drugs or alcohol and “hoonish driving” but Barry had failed to keep a proper look-out on the road.

Sentence bittersweet for victim’s family

Speaking outside court, Mr Adam’s sister Jan Cleeman described the sentence as “bittersweet justice” for her brother.

“It doesn’t sit really great with us, you know, we’ve got our brother at the cemetery for the rest of our lives,” she said.

Ms Cleeman said her brother’s death had left their whole family broken-hearted.

“He was one of kind, he was quirky our brother, we often joked as kids that we were opening the door for the brains of the family because he got them all, he was very clever with computers,” she said.

Mr Adam’s other sister Lynn Shannon said more than 300 people attended her brother’s funeral.

Ms Shannon called for the penalties for those who cause death by dangerous driving to be increased.

“For every kid out there riding a bike it needs to be changed,” she said.

“The one thing we got out of this case was that our brother was proven to be doing nothing wrong and that’s what we really wanted.”

Barry will be eligible for parole in April 2023.