Killer driver set to avoid jail after ‘flouting' laws
A killer driver is set to avoid more time behind bars for driving unlicensed while high on drugs after a magistrate said she was confident treatment can keep him on the straight and narrow.
Thomas Towle, jailed for 10 years after killing six teenagers in a hit-run in 2006, faced sentencing in Bendigo Magistrates Court on Tuesday after pleading guilty to two driving charges.
The 53-year-old admitted he was unlicensed when he was caught driving a Holden Commodore along the Calder Highway in central Victoria in September 2024.
Towle tried to swap places with his passenger when pulled over by police but eventually conceded he was the one behind the wheel.
He also returned a positive drug test result for methamphetamine.
In March, Towle's lawyer Walinda Bonne told the court her client had tried to organise alternative transport for his mother's surprise birthday party, but it fell through.
It was conceded Towle had a 'chequered, lengthy and relevant' criminal history but he was making efforts to change, she said.
Police argued a jail sentence was required to prevent him from 'deliberately flouting the law', pointing to his 12 prior convictions of driving while unlicensed or disqualified.
But magistrate Megan Aumair ordered Towle be assessed for a community corrections order after Ms Bonne provided proof he was engaging with drug, counselling and cultural services.
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