Duncan and Bella Wakes-Miller’s story about the loss of Barney Wakes-Miller who was killed by a drunk driver.

Our seventeen-year-old son, Barney Wakes-Miller, was killed when he was a passenger in a car driven by a drunk driver on July 18th 2020 on Sydney’s Northern Beaches. Barney was an extremely popular boy, a brilliant artist and left behind two brothers and a sister as well as many close friends. The ripple effect of his death is far reaching and continues to impact hundreds of people. We are broken-hearted. The CTP insurance system has made us feel like we have done something wrong.

Barney’s death was no accident but vehicular manslaughter. The weather and roadway were not identified as causative factors. The many actions of the ‘P’ Plate driver contributed to the death of our son. He initiated burnouts and put lives at risk. The driver who cannot be named for legal reasons colluded with his father and together they lied about how much alcohol he drank in a statement to Police. He drove with five unrestrained passengers after 11pm, having only passed his Red ‘P’ plates five weeks earlier. He ignored two passenger requests to slow down and also endangered other road users. The driver did not render assistance to Barney after the collision, instead calling three people on his phone. A nearby Uber driver called 000. Barney died at the scene in the hands of paramedics. The driver has never personally shown any remorse to our family nor contacted us to apologise for killing our son. His mother, ashamed of her son's actions, wrote us a letter much later.

Adults, who were present at a gathering where underage drinking occurred did not speak up or step in to prevent this incident happening. Indeed, one adult from the property drove their Tesla at high speed that night in effect egging on the cohort of inebriated youths. 

The Police failed to breathalyse the driver at the scene. His blood was tested over two hours after the crime showing a reading of 0.142. A Senior DPP Solicitor unofficially said it is likely a roadside breath test would have made a significant difference to the case. The Police did not caution or press charges for anyone else who chose not to intervene and prevent this tragedy. 

We were informed by Police in the middle of the night. We had to wait for a week to see Barney and missed the opportunity for organ donation. I had to identify Barney’s body with severe head injuries and make the decision for Bella NOT to see his face. It has forever tainted my memories of our son’s face.  

We were initially not allowed to visit the crash site as it was a crime scene. Barney’s mobile phone has never been recovered despite the fact that he was holding it at the time of the crash. Days later I spent hours combing the crash site on my hands and knees looking for Barney’s phone as the Police wouldn’t help.

A protracted criminal case ensued. A judiciary reliant on outdated case law in ‘R vs Whyte’ failed us and the community. The driver escaped with a non-custodial sentence. Effectively no punishment. Impossible to explain to our kids. You are old enough to have a licence but not old enough to accept the consequences of your criminal actions in a car. Car crime has become normalised.

The Director of The Office of Public Prosecution agreed with us that the sentence was manifestly inadequate for the criminality of the offence. There was no deterrent aspect at all to the sentence and worse, it may even encourage young men to repeat the drinking, speeding, showing off aspects of the offence safe in the knowledge that they will likely avoid jail and, in a practical sense, avoid any sort of punishment. 

The sentence was appealed in April 2022 with Judge Clive Jeffreys presiding. He was formerly described by NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance as delivering “gob-smacking and incompetent sentencing” - he rejected the appeal.

It is noteworthy that despite the initial court providing press access to proceedings Judge Jeffreys banned media from the appeal. We have been informed that we are unable to get a transcript of the sentencing. This raises significant question marks over judiciary transparency or accountability in NSW in 2022. We spent more on parking fees attending court sessions than the drunk driver who killed our son paid in fines.

We have been told by the ODPP that judges are required to read their submissions aloud and have the power to exclude media from reporting their reasons in a closed court. As in our case with Judge Jeffreys. Then they have no obligation for decisions to be put on the Case Law website. As per our case with Judge Jeffreys or Magistrate Duncombe.

There is no public record of the sentence or jurisdictional control to follow-up on the sentence imposed to ensure it is enforced (for example alcohol interlock). There is no process for this.

Barney’s death highlights huge deficiencies in how road crime is handled by the Police, the judiciary and how members of the public have a moral duty of care to ‘speak up and step in’ to stop this happening. 

Barney’s friends have collaborated on bringing his artwork to life in a streetwear brand with the idea of ‘looking after your mates’ as its foundational idea. We are making progress. Working with the Road Trauma Support Group NSW and walking shoulder to shoulder with the Police so that no other family has to experience what we have. Whilst the perpetrators mother has written us a letter the individual has shown no remorse at any time.

Imagine the change in policy moving through to changed behaviour if road crashes that result in the death of a person are subject to a “Safety Investigations Report” and these matters are made public.