TWO men involved in a crash that killed a Wheelers Hill teenager in 2007 will be allowed to drive sooner than expected.
Damian Rodi and Jarrod Rooke received jail sentences and licence disqualifications over an incident in February 2007, when they were drag racing down Ferntree Gully Road and Rooke crashed into a taxi, killing 15-year-old passenger Mitchell Cairnduff. Rooke was sentenced to four years in jail, with a minimum sentence of two years. Rodi was sentenced to three years and three months in prison with a minimum of 18 months.
Both men appealed their sentences.
They faced the Court of Appeal on March 3. Rodi was originally banned from driving for 18 months on his release from jail; the appeal court changed this to 18 months from January 1, which cuts a year off his ban.
Rooke’s ban was cut from two years to one. The appeal court found no reason to reduce the jail sentences.
