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Andrew Stafford and Laine Clark
Riding brightly lit e-bikes, the Guimaraes family were on an afternoon outing when Keith Andrew Chambers lost control of his van.
Chambers was at least three times over the legal blood-alcohol limit and driving up to 60km/h over the speed limit when he struck Aiden Guimaraes and his father David in October 2024.
His driving was additionally impaired by his consumption of prescription opioid medications.
Nine-year-old Aiden was riding pillion with his dad in a designated lane in front of his mother Andrea and brother Gabriel who were travelling on another e-bike on the Gold Coast.
“For an 11-year-old to have witnessed his brother suffer fatal injuries and his father suffer substantial injuries is simply horrendous,” Justice Glenn Martin said on Thursday, sentencing Chambers to 14 years in jail.
The battery for the e-bike hit in the crash was found more than 60 metres away from the scene.
Guimaraes was critically injured and remained unconscious when his wife made the heartbreaking decision to turn off their son’s life support later that day.
“He will always remain the little boy who loved Godzilla, Venom, monster trucks, mountain bikes, video games and Pokemon,” said family spokesperson Damien Simonfi outside Brisbane Supreme Court on Thursday.
“Aiden and all the family deserved a future together. Instead, we have received a life sentence of grief.”
Family and supporters later unfurled a banner outside court in tribute of their “cheeky little boy”.
“We carry his loss with us every single day, and no judicial sentence could ever dull our grief,” said Simonfi, reading a statement from the parents as they stood nearby.
“Yet each day, like the one before it, we try and take another step forward, another step out of the seemingly never-ending fog that has engulfed our lives.”
The parents called for vehicular manslaughter laws to be introduced and compulsory third-party insurance to be overhauled, making repeat offenders pay more.
“Choosing to drive while affected by drugs or alcohol is not an accident, it is a decision,” Simonfi said on behalf of the family.
Aiden’s parents wept in court as Chambers was sentenced over their son’s death.
Martin told Chambers the traumatised victim impact statements from Aiden’s family provided a compelling indication of the immense harm he had done.
He disagreed with prosecutor Nathan Crane’s submission Chambers drove in such a reckless manner for “the thrill of it” but said the actions were deliberate.
“You were not deterred by the danger in which you had placed yourself and others,” he told Chambers.
Chambers received a 14-year sentence after pleading guilty to manslaughter and dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm.
He must serve at least 80 per cent of his sentence.
Chambers was disqualified from driving for life.
AAP
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