Corrigin crash: Carl Allan Bridge jailed for nine years over crash which killed Amy Bropho and her son Leroy

The family of a mother and son killed in a horror crash outside Corrigin say they are disappointed with the sentence handed down to the drug-affected truck driver who tore their lives apart. Carl Allan Bridge was today jailed for nine years and one month for the Brookton Highway tragedy that claimed the lives of Amy Louise Bropho, 26, and her son Leroy Dawson, 10, and seriously injured her three other children Jacob, Thomas and Madison. Bridge was under the influence of meth and cannabis when his road train slammed into their Holden Commodore, which had run out of fuel, on the major arterial route on August 19, 2018. The force of the 38-tonne Kenworth prime mover ploughing into the stationary car and its box trailer caused so much damage that one of the first police officers who attended the scene said it resembled a bomb site. Outside court, Ms Bropho’s mother Shirley explained while her family was relieved the matter was finally over, they had wanted a longer sentence. “I’m glad it’s all over and done with and we can put this all behind us and move on, but I am disappointed with the sentencing,” she said. “We waited just over three years for this and then we hear the verdict (sentence). “(We) would have liked to seen a little bit more, at least. You know he can get out and he can move on. We are still stuck. Nothing in the world can change that.” During the sentencing hearing, the court was told Bridge had taken methamphetamine up to 18 hours before he set off on his run to Corrigin from Perth and smoked cannabis up to 12 hours before he got into his vehicle. A blood test carried out hours after the crash showed he had 0.03mg of methamphetamine and 7.4mcg of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC, the active ingredient in cannabis) in his system. At trial, Bridge denied the drugs made him incapable of controlling his vehicle arguing he did see the parked car and tried to stop in time. But a jury found the 48-year-old, who had driven along the long straight stretch of Brookton Highway for around 5kms before the collision without using his high beam headlights, was incapable of being in control of his vehicle at the time of the crash. In sentencing Bridge, Judge Linda Petrusa accepted the professional driver, who was described as a long term cannabis user and has been in protective custody since his guilty verdict, was sorry for his actions and tried to help his victims immediately after the crash. But she said he failed to recognise his drug use was the cause of the collision saying it clearly affected his decision making. “This was a tragedy that is squarely your fault,” she said. “When you drive a vehicle you are in charge of a lethal weapon. It is a responsibility that begins before you get into a vehicle. In this case you failed in this responsibility. Yyou knowingly took methylamphetamine and then cannabis, either one of which would have made you incapable. You must have been aware of the effect of these drugs on you. In any event, common sense should have prevailed. You were assuming control of a road train, a big and potentially very dangerous vehicle. It was incumbent on you to ensure you were at your best. You were not - far from it.” During the hearing, Ms Bropho’s family also revealed through victim impact statements how they were still struggling to come to terms with their grief. Leroy Dimer, Ms Bropho’s partner and father to their four children, said his whole life had been torn apart by “a truck driver who chose to drive his truck under the influence of drugs”. While her mother, Shirley revealed how she wished that she could have just one day to “enjoy her grandchildren as a grandparent” instead of the constant stress and worry she has had to endure for the last three years. Judge Petrusa jailed Bridge for nine years and one month and made him eligible for parole after serving seven years and one month.