‘What’s a child’s life worth?’ Fury as AG declines to appeal sentence

Ryan Kimball’s heartbroken family has appealed to the Queensland Attorney-General to review the sentence given to the teenager who plead guilty to dangerous driving causing the death of their son.

To make the blow worse, the Sunshine Coast family were not informed directly by the department, but instead by the media.

The father of Sunshine Coast teenager Ryan Kimball said he has been left wondering “what is a child’s life worth?” after he found out the decision to appeal the “slap on the wrist” the killer driver was handed would not be challenged.

Graeme Kimball said the fact that he had to find out the news from a journalist made it even more cruel.

Ryan, 16, was in the back seat of vehicle when, during several high-speed runs up and down Finland Rd in Bli Bli, the driver lost control and drove into a power pole on June 9, 2022. Ryan died instantly.

The driver, now 18, was dealt with under the Youth Justice Act because of his age at the time of the offence.

The teen, who cannot be named, pleaded guilty to driving as a learner without supervision, driving without L plates and using a phone while driving. He earlier pleaded guilty to one charge of dangerous driving causing death.

He was sentenced to 18 months’ detention, immediately suspended, and disqualified from driving for 18 months. No convictions were recorded.

The deadline to appeal the sentence was Friday and Mr Kimball said he and his wife were waiting by their phone to hear from the Attorney-General’s office.

It was not until 4.30pm that he heard from the Department of Public Prosecutions – two hours after a journalist had already told him that a decision had been made.

“We sort of knew we weren’t going to get the outcome that we wanted right from the word go, but we just want people to know that the youth justice system is just wrong, people need to be aware that a life is not worth much,” he said.

“I think it’s wrong that (the media was told) before our family was even notified. Before we could even notify our family it was all over the TV.”

Mr Kimball said he believed the justice system was geared in favour of offenders, not victims, with communication from the night Ryan was killed to now almost non-existent.

“We were waiting for guidance and putting faith and trust in the system and just we’re not the only families out there but I’m just I’m not going to let that slide that our son’s life is valued so little to the government, I’ve got no political agenda behind this, it’s just fair dinkum facts,” he said.

Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath said she had “significant sympathy” for Ryan’s family and appreciated that from their perspective their loss was adequately compensated.

“However, the court has taken into account a range of factors in this case, and the Acting Director of Public Prosecutions has advised they do not consider there are reasonable prospects an appeal would be successful,” she said.

But for the Kimball family if a teenager is old enough to drive a car – they are old enough to face responsibility for their actions.

“After the sentence I felt like we buried him a second time. Yesterday I felt like I buried him a third time,” he said.

“The thing is in court, 94 per cent of people there were Ryan’s friends and teenagers, and when they heard that sentence they walked away with the wrong message. There was no deterrent.”

LNP Member for Ninderry Dan Purdie said it was not acceptable that Ryan’s grieving parents found out about the decision via the media, “despite being in direct contact with the Attorney-General’s office earlier that same day”.

“Not only has the family been let down by the justice system for a second time, they’ve been left humiliated and embarrassed by the Attorney-General, who has shown the family absolutely no compassion in her handling of this serious matter,” he said.