A DRIVER who killed his brother in a head-on collision with a taxi has had an appeal against his sentence denied.
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Correy was found guilty of one count of negligent driving causing death and two counts of negligent driving causing injury.
Wallace Correy, then 27, appeared in Armidale District Court on Wednesday to appeal his April sentence of an 18 month supervised community corrections order, two-year disqualification from driving and a recorded conviction.
The crash occurred just before Christmas in 2017 when Correy and his brother were driving along Thunderbolt's Way headed to a celebration at Glen Innes.
Correy's defence solicitor argued the accident was caused by a momentary loss of attention and Judge Jeffery McLennan agreed.
"He will always be scarred by the loss of his brother, a particularly significant loss," he said.
"No penalty can restore anyone into the position they were prior to the accident.
"The review of sentencing statistically fell comfortably within the range of a suitable sentence."
Correy had hoped to appeal his sentence so that no conviction would be recorded, the court heard.
How the accident occurred still has not been established and as a result determining the level of negligence was difficult, Judge McLennan said.
"The sources of reasons of loss of attention are numerous," he said.
"It is an inexplicable tragedy that has affected everyone terribly."
The accident occurred at night time and the car was travelling at 100km per hour.
Correy's brother had driven from Sydney, and the court heard the defendant took over after a rest break near Walcha lookout.
The BMW driven by Correy drove onto the wrong side of the road before it slammed into an oncoming taxi.
The car split in two and the taxi rolled, it was carrying six young men at the time.
The taxi driver sustained multiple injuries including a fractured sternum, ribs and other bruising while two of the passengers also had serious injuries, the court heard.
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A document submitted to the court reported that the psychological problems that have resulted for the defendant will be ongoing.
Correy did not try to get out of the way of the taxi, the court heard, and Judge McLennan said any attempt to describe how the accident occurred would be speculative.
Judge McLennan said the original sentence handed down by Armidale Local Court Magistrate Michael Holmes was made by a "learned magistrate".
The appeal was denied on Wednesday.
