Driver's shocking roadside text after killing cyclist
The first thing Timothy Scollary did when he killed a cyclist near Bendigo was text his sister.
"Call me now. Urgent. Now."
He didn't call emergency services at any point and didn't attempt to help his victim, 65-year-old Michael Grinter.
Twenty minutes later he sent two more messages.
"I've killed a cyclist."
"A very good lawyer would be handy."
Scollary, a 65-year-old taxi driver, hit and killed Mr Grinter in December 2018, the Victorian County Court heard on Tuesday.
"I didn't check on him to not disturb the scene of the accident," Scollary told police after the incident.
While standing eight metres away from Mr Grinter's body, Scollary told one driver that stopped to ask him about the incident to "f**k off, I've called my sister. He's dead."
"I've killed a cyclist. The police are coming," he told another driver.
It was 10 to 15 minutes before another person tried to perform CPR on Mr Grinter.
Judge Trevor Wraight said while Scollary was probably a victim of panic, he was aware of the seriousness of his car striking a cyclist and decided to call his sister instead - appearing to be more concerned for himself than for the cyclist.
Scollary was sentenced on Tuesday to three years in prison after pleading guilty to dangerous driving causing death, failing to render assistance and failing a blood alcohol test.
It's a result that he had already foreseen.
"I'll be in jail... I've had a few," another witness said he overheard Scollary saying on the phone.
According to his statement to police, Scollary had been visiting his mother and was returning to Melbourne after drinking two glasses of wine.
He tested positive after blood tests registered an alcohol concentration of .067.
The reason he hit the cyclist, however, was his prolonged loss of attention to the road, Judge Wraight said.
Police believe he was driving at between 76 km/h and 87 km/h in a 100 zone and veered to the left of the road in the moments before the collision.
Recently diagnosed with prostate cancer, Scollary will have to spend a minimum of 18 months in jail before being eligible for parole.
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