Advertisement

Family outraged by hoon death driver's sentence

The family and friends of an 18-year-old girl who was killed while a passenger on a quad bike are outraged by the five-and-a-half year jail sentence given to the driver.

Joshua Wayne Bonjour was riding the quad bike at Lancelin, with Jodie-Maree Worthington as a pillion passenger, when it crashed into a car in September 2012.

A jury heard how witnesses saw Bonjour "fishtailing” the quad bike across a sand track in the seconds before the tragedy.

Justice Patrick O'Neale said said the 22-year-old's driving was "unthinkingly reckless" and thrill-seeking.

"I accept you feel some sense of guilt; you would be a monster if you didn't. But it is not apparent you accept responsibility," Justice O'Neal said.

Bonjour, 21, was found guilty of dangerous driving causing death, and today pleaded guilty to charges of dangerous driving, driving without a licence and driving with a blood alcohol level exceeding 0.02 per cent.

Outside court, family members of Ms Worthington said they were hugely disappointed by the sentence, with her mother Paula Purcell to upset to speak.

A post on a memorial Facebook page for Ms Worthington read: "This is disgusting, would get more for stealing her car".

Another post read: "System is a joke".

Earlier, in an emotional statement to the court, Ms Purcell said her world had been plunged into darkness since the death of her daughter.

"It kills me inside everyday that her future was taken from her," Ms Purcell said

"My life with Jodie was sunny and bright ... everything since has been dark and bare."

WA's District Court heard that in March 2011 Bonjour received a four-year suspended sentence over a string of offences, including assault, aggravated burglary, reckless driving and driving without a licence.

For his part in Ms Worthington's death, Bonjour was jailed for four years and he will serve 18 months of his previously suspended sentence.

He will be eligible for parole in September 2017.

Jodie-Maree Worthington.