South Australian John Tsalapatis is set to be sentenced this month after being found guilty of causing death by dangerous driving.
Tsalapatis was in court over a car accident in 2021 which led to the death of 61-year-old Bernice Sternberg, who was a passenger in the vehicle driven by her husband when the Greek-Australian drove through a McLaren Vale intersection without stopping.
The schoolteacher was surrounded by her family in the Flinders Medical Centre (FMC) as she died from her injuries five days after the crash.
The 59-year-old engineer’s legal counsel, Jane Abbey KC, as reported by ABC News, told the court on Tuesday that her client felt “a deep and genuine remorse” over the death of Sternberg but stated his actions were “not criminal in nature”.
She urged Judge Nick Alexandrides to impose a suspended sentence, or alternatively, a home detention sentence that would allow him to remain working as an engineer and team leader at an energy company.
Prosecutor Jim Pearce KC retorted that Tsalapatis did not come before the court with an unblemished driving record and that the consequences of his driving were “painfully on display when we heard those victim impact statements”.
He stated a suspended sentence could be appropriate, though it was not the norm.
“It’s not an overwhelming acceptance of responsibility for the outcome,” Pearce said.
“He’s blaming the layout of the intersection still.”
Pearce had earlier read out a victim impact statement to the District Court on behalf of Sternberg’s husband Rony, expressing his sincere grief.
“This has been the absolute saddest and loneliest and heartbreaking three years of my life,” the statement read.
“I look at Bernice’s picture … and I say, ‘I miss you so much, honey, I wish you were here’, and I get emotional and I cry.”
Sternberg’s husband said he now held his breath whenever he approached the intersection where the crash occurred, and got a “terrible worried feeling”.
“It could have been prevented if he [Tsalapatis] only stopped at this intersection,” the statement read.
“I will never forgive him for what he has done to me and my whole family, causing the death of my darling Bernice.”
The court heard of the positive impact she left on her family, friends, and at the school in which she taught, as well as that she was a grandmother to four grandchildren (the youngest two having been born after her death).
Members of her family, including her two tearful sons Dion and Luke Sternberg and mother Nancy Field, told the court they forgave Tsalapatis even though they too are still feeling the devastating effects of her death.
“My life is far more lonely and complicated without her help,” Field said.
Dion Sternberg said the loss of his “irreplaceable” mother had “left a profound ache in my heart”, while Luke Sternberg said she was the “glue in our family” and that she was “deeply missed”.
The outcome of Tsalapatis’ sentence will be revealed later this month.
