Driver who killed five after police warning jailed for at least three years

County Court judge Gavan Meredith said the victim impact statements from family members and friends of those who died were a tragic testimony as they spoke of their overwhelming sadness, emptiness and hopelessness.

Meredith said Joannidis’ offending was “not merely an example of momentary inattention”, as he had ignored multiple warning signs and rumble strips before reaching the intersection.

Joannidis appeared upset as Meredith recounted the incident that led to the deaths on a straight section of road in fine weather.

The court heard Joannidis had no criminal history and was remorseful, and that if he could, he would turn back time.

After the crash, he told a psychologist, “I wish it was me that had died.”

He had been regularly consuming alcohol from the age of 14, and had been drinking to help cope with flashbacks of the collision, the court was told. Joannidis has a history of poor mental health, suffers from severe obsessive compulsive disorder and is intermittently suicidal.

Family members of some of the victims who were in Australia on working visas watched the sentencing remotely from Hong Kong and Taiwan with the help of interpreters.

Joannidis, dressed in a blue suit, whispered “I love you” to his family as he was led away from the courtroom and into custody.

A spokesperson for the Office of Public Prosecutions said: “All sentences imposed in cases prosecuted by this office are reviewed as a matter of course.”

In May 2023, this masthead revealed police had sounded the alarm about the stretch of road more than a year before the deadly crash.

The Department of Transport and the Moira Shire Council were told that signage at the intersection in Strathmerton was inadequate and handed a list of recommended improvements after a February 2022 site visit.

Joannidis was sentenced to 5½ years’ jail with a non-parole period of three years.