The family of a man whose life could have been saved if a woman had called triple-0 has told a court about the ongoing devastation on their lives seven years after his death.
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Tracy Lee Dowling, 41, of Young, was convicted in December 2018 at Wagga District Court of manslaughter by criminal negligence for the unlawful killing of 20-year-old Luke Doyle.
During Dowling's four-and-a-half week trial in late 2018, the court heard that she assumed a duty of care over Mr Doyle when she drove him to her place on March 13, 2012.
At the time, Mr Doyle was overdosing on drugs and his condition was rapidly deteriorating.
Dowling, however, did not take him to the hospital but left him in the car and did not call triple-0.
The night before his death, Mr Doyle, Dowling, and a mutual friend illegally obtained an unknown amount of Xanax tablets in Young.
The following morning, Dowling's mother arrived home after 7.30am from work to find Mr Doyle's dead body at the foot of the red ute, which was covered in his vomit. A post-mortem revealed Mr Doyle's cause of death to be multi-drug toxicity, with traces of oxycodone, Xanax, and morphine all found in his blood.
During sentencing in Wagga District Court on Wednesday, Mr Doyle's mother Alison Bailey, broke down in tears as she spoke about her ongoing heartbreak.
"I feel a heartache and pain in my body that's never left me [since] the moment I received a phone call seven years ago," Ms Bailey said.
She told the court that the hardest part is "I will never again get to hold the baby boy I gave birth to, who I love with all my heart".
Mr Doyle's sister Jasmine Doyle said she locked herself in her bedroom after receiving the news.
"I fell to my knees and felt the worst pain I have ever felt," Ms Doyle said. "It was like someone had reached in and pulled my heart out."
Defence barrister Peter Lowe argued for a non-full-time custodial sentence, saying otherwise it would mean extreme hardship for a dependent in Dowling's care.
Mr Lowe also called Dowling's mother, Lesley Dowling, to give evidence about the hardships.
"Stability is important, it's a tragic situation," he said.
Crown prosecutor Paul Kerr argued against the notion that this matter was highly exceptional.
He also said the moral culpability of Tracy was at the higher end of the spectrum for this offence.
"If the offender has, as she claims, abstained from illicit substances for as long as she says she has, a term of imprisonment would not interfere with that," he said.
Judge Gordon Lerve has reserved his sentence until May 6 this year.
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