Delay in sentencing truck driver over Kingston double-fatality car collision

Michael Brent Knowler's defence counsel made an application to adjourn Knowler's plea hearing at the County Court of Victoria on Wednesday.

Knowler, 60, will argue the intersection of Kingston Road and Church Parade, where the fatality occurred, is dangerous.

Defence barrister Chris Pearson told the court an engineer would attend the intersection and compile a report which will be tendered to the court to support Knowler's plea hearing.

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"We apologise to everyone this is going to cause delay (for) and apologise to the family of the deceased," Mr Pearson said.

The prosecution did not oppose the adjournment application and acknowledged the expert report was important if the defence was relying on it.

Crown prosecutor Sharn Coombes said the deceased's family were very keen to have the matter dealt with exponentially.

Judge George Georgiou granted the adjournment. He said he understood the concerns of the deceased's family and friends.

"It's regrettable the information was not obtained before the plea. In my opinion, it was as clear as day," Judge Georgiou said.

Mr Pearson said the reason for not getting the expert report earlier was due to funding.

Related: Kingston truck crash: Jessica West's heartbroken family shares their pain

The plea hearing was adjourned to July 30. Knowler, who did not appear in court for Wednesday's hearing, was remanded in custody.

Knowler pleaded guilty in February to two counts of dangerous driving causing death and one count of dangerous driving causing serious injury.

Jessica West, 37, and her five-year-old son Deighton were killed when Knowler failed to give way at the intersection and hit the family's Rav4, causing it to flip, after Christmas on December 29, 2019.

Knowler was driving a Kenworth prime mover on Church Parade towards his friend's home in Broomfield before the fatal collision occurred.

He was using a GPS on his phone because he was unfamiliar with the area and he told police he checked his mobile phone after seeing a sign indicating there was an intersection ahead.

Knowler admitted to police he was "probably travelling too fast" when he first saw the give way sign and did not realise until the point he had to stop.

He said he was unable to see the Rav4 approaching because of the trees on the right hand side of the road until he was entering the intersection and put the brakes on.

Knowler hit the passenger side of the West family's car, pushing it across the intersection, causing it hit a roadside culvert and flip between three and five times before coming to rest on its roof.

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The West family with the family dog in the back had been travelling from their home in Epsom near Bendigo to Mrs West's parents' house in Ballarat.

Mr West was driving the family car, with Mrs West in the passenger seat and their two children Oakley, 9, and Deighton, 5, in booster seats in the back.

Mrs West and Deighton were declared dead at the scene.

Mr West was taken to Ballarat Base Hospital with minor injuries and Oakley was transported by air ambulance to the Royal Children's Hospital with serious injuries.

The family dog was killed.

The court was previously told Knowler was an experienced driver, had driven more than 11,000 kilometres in the same truck and had no driving or criminal record.

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