LEGAL STUDIES UNIT 3 – The Victorian Criminal Justice System

Father of two-year-old boy killed in buggy rollover faces jail

By Karen Sweeney (The Age)
January 24, 2023 — 2.47pm

A father who caused the death of his son on Christmas Day is again facing the prospect of prison
after prosecutors challenged a community work sentence. Christopher Browne, 33, avoided jail last
year after admitting he was to blame for the death of two-year-old Lincoln.

Christopher Browne was doing doughnuts in his

buggy when it rolled, killing his two-year-old son,
Lincoln, on Christmas Day 2020.
The youngster was thrown from an all-terrain
buggy and crushed when his father was doing
doughnuts at their family property at
Barnawartha North in Victoria’s northeast in
2020. Browne was sentenced to a three-year
community corrections order that imposed 250
hours of community work and ongoing treatment
for post-traumatic stress disorder.

However, prosecutors say his case is no different to that of another Victorian father who was
sentenced to more than three years behind bars after causing the death of his nine-year-old
daughter in a buggy crash. Browne had been doing burnouts in a vehicle notoriously unsafe for such
activities, Victoria’s chief Crown prosecutor Brendan Kissane, KC, told Victoria’s Court of Appeal on
Tuesday.

When sentencing Browne, county court judge Michael Cahill had taken into account that the father
was suffering post-traumatic stress disorder after the crash. However, Kissane challenged whether
that should have led to such vastly different sentences.

“It’s trite to say any parent who is involved in the death of their child would be grief-stricken, would
be suffering, or would suffer from stress and anxiety, and the distinction, if there is one, is not such
to warrant the distinction in sentence,” he said. The court heard Browne’s admission to dangerous
driving causing death and reckless conduct endangering serious injury were double-barrelled. He
had deliberately driven dangerously by doing the burnouts or doughnuts and had also deliberately
flouted built-in safety features on the buggy by sitting on top of a clipped-in seatbelt, overriding a
safety lock that would have limited the speed to 25km/h.

Lincoln had been sitting on Browne’s lap, and Browne’s sister was in the passenger seat of the
buggy, which should only have had two people on board. Browne’s barrister, Jason Gullaci, said
Browne had admitted to police that he had been trying to scare his sister, that he had been doing
doughnuts, and confessed to flouting the seatbelt rules. “He has taken full and direct responsibility
for the devastating consequences of his very reckless behaviour,” he said.

Browne pleaded guilty after a sentence indication, and in the five months since being sentenced has
already completed more than 100 hours of the required community work. He and his wife, who
remains his loyal supporter, learned after prosecutors filed the appeal that they are expecting
another child, Mr Gullaci said.
The couple had stillborn twin daughters before Lincoln’s birth and have another surviving child.

“Given that he now knows that his wife is pregnant and there’s a real risk he could be imprisoned as
a result of the (prosecutor’s) appeal, he has significant concerns,” Gullaci said.

The appeal is being decided by three judges.

Read the article and respond to the following questions:

1. What was the original decision/outcome of this case in the County Court?
Browne was sentenced to a three-year community corrections order that imposed 250 hours
of community work andxx ongoing treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.
2. Why has this outcome been appealed?
This has been appealed as the prosecution believed the sentence was to light. The
prosecution believed that the case is no different to another similar case which the offender
had received 3 years imprisonment. The Prosecution sought that Browne would receive
similar sanctions and the judge would follow precedent.
3. In which court and by which mode of trial is the appeal being heard?
Supreme court (court of appeals) hearing by 3 judges
4. If you were deciding the appeal what would be your decision?
1 year imprisonment with eligibility for parole in 6 months additional 100 hours of
community corrections and suspension of licence.
5. How might the principles of justice (fairness, equality and access) be reflected in your
decision?
Fairness would be upheld as he would still be sentenced to imprisonment alike to the other
offender. However equality would not be reflected as he did not receive the same sentence
as the other similar offender.