Emma De Silva sits at home with her father and carer Keith Freeman. Picture: Stephen Cooper Source: The Daily Telegraph
Bryce James Wayland leaves court yesterday. Picture: Jeremy Piper Source: The Daily Telegraph
THE father of a woman who needs round-the-clock care after a driver lost control of his car and smashed into her and her baby daughter has slammed the "disgraceful" leniency of the sentence.
Bryce James Wayland, 27, was yesterday ordered to perform 50 hours of community service and was banned from driving for 15 months after his Lexus mounted the kerb and hit Emma De Silva, now 36, and her 19-day-old daughter as they walked on a footpath next to the Princes Hwy at St Peters in March 2011.
Ms De Silva spent two months in hospital with critical head injuries and continues to receive daily rehabilitation as she re-learns basic skills.
She suffers seizures and needs a walking frame to move around the house, where she lives with the help of her family and carers.
Her baby escaped without long-term injuries.
Magistrate Graeme Curran said while the victim's injuries were serious, Wayland's culpability was "very low" and the driver was left in a "sorry situation".
"Weighed against this is the undeniable tragedy that Ms De Silva and her family and friends have to endure for the rest of her life," he said.
Speaking from the Penrith home he now shares with his daughter, Ms De Silva's father Keith Freeman told The Daily Telegraph that Wayland hadn't been made to face the consequences for the "lives he destroyed".
"I think it's disgraceful. Our lives are completely shattered and what he has got is probably less than you would normally get for being caught speeding," he said.
"He should be made to realise what he's done to Emma. She had a happy life, she had a family, she had a great job and it's all gone."
Mr Freeman said no penalty would change what happened to his daughter, but he believed Wayland deserved a harsher punishment than community service.
Mr Curran yesterday said the driver would experience the community service hours "far more onerously than the average member of the population" because he suffered a serious medical condition called Crohn's disease.
Wayland was last year found guilty of negligent driving causing grievous bodily harm, which carries a maximum nine-month jail term and a three-year licence ban.
He failed to apply the brakes and instead steered on to the footpath after his accelerator pedal became stuck under the floor mat while he was driving home from work, the court previously heard.
A statement from Wayland's parents to the court said they were "immensely proud of their son", although he had changed from being "happy, carefree and diligent" to "withdrawn and depressed" after the crash.
Mr Curran said he had no doubt the driver was very remorseful.
Wayland didn't comment as he left the Downing Centre Local Court yesterday.
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