A 23-year-old man, Peter Agius, has been sentenced to at least six years in prison after sending 44 Snapchat messages while driving at 100km/h, moments before a fatal crash that killed a father and critically injured his six-year-old son.
The crash occurred in January 2023 on a country road in Glengarry, Victoria, when Agius’s vehicle struck a car driven by Adam Sutton, 41, who had just picked up his son from school. Sutton died at the scene, and his son suffered a permanent brain injury.
During the 12km journey from his workplace, Agius sent 44 Snapchat messages and received 41 replies, with one arriving just 20 seconds before impact. The County Court of Victoria heard he had his head buried in his phone and only looked up at the last moment.
Agius claimed he had dropped his sunglasses and was retrieving them, but the jury convicted him of culpable driving causing death and negligently causing serious injury after a trial in April 2025. Judge Kevin Doyle described his conduct as 'extreme inattention' and said he was 'an accident waiting to happen'.
The court also heard Agius had a history of dangerous driving, including a 2022 police pursuit that led to a fine and licence loss, a 2020 careless driving warning, and being caught driving while on bail in February 2024 despite a ban.
Agius was jailed for a maximum of nine years and eight months, with a non-parole period of six years. He has already served 122 days. Victim impact statements described Sutton as deeply loved, with 1,000 attending his funeral and 2,000 watching online.
