A drug-affected motorist, whose anger and "bizarrely aggressive" driving continued until he crashed his car, has had his jail term increased for causing the death of his young nephew.
Robert Gawdat Shashati was high on ice when his car became airborne and hit a drainage ditch in the NSW Hunter region in January 2015, killing seven-year-old Marcus Shashati, one of four boys in the vehicle.
The 38-year-old was jailed for four years and six months with a non-parole period of two years and three months after he was found guilty of aggravated dangerous driving.
When the sentence was imposed in April, the boy's heartbroken mother, Claudia Boyagi Shashati, collapsed screaming "it's a joke".
"Please, I urge you all out there, if you're a drug user or addict, think twice before placing other lives in your hand," she said.
On Friday, the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal allowed a challenge by the Director of Public Prosecutions and re-sentenced Shashati to six years with a non-parole period of three years and three months.
The original term was "manifestly inadequate" as the judge failed to take into account Shashati's driving before the accident and the length of the journey during which others were exposed to risk, the court concluded.
Shashati had been driving the four boys to ride quad bikes in the sand dunes, becoming increasingly angry at running late, making a wrong turn and over an incident at a service station.
Witnesses had described his aggressive driving in the lead-up to the crash, which resulted in one woman twice ringing triple-zero.
Ultimately, when Shashati had a potentially fatal amount of methamphetamine in his system, he decided to pass the slow moving traffic by going off the road on the left.
He drove at speed along the bitumen shoulder, with one wheel on the grass verge before reaching the drainage ditch.
"Given the period of continuing angry and aggressive behaviour, from lunchtime until 4pm, the moral culpability must be assessed as in the high range," said Justice John Baste.
Australian Associated Press
