Grieving mother wants harsher penalties for hit and run
COMMUNITY ACTION
Victoria Stone-Meadows
The mother of a man who was killed in a hit and run incident in Mossman two years ago is urging everyone to sign a petition for harsher penalties for hit and run drivers.
Janice Bradley, the mother of Scott ‘Scotty’ Bradley, is renewing calls for signatures following the sentencing of the man who hit her son in September 2016.
Ms Bradley has thrown her support behind a petition started by the Bowden family whose son Michael, 20, was also killed in a hit and run incident in Weipa in 2018.
The petition also honours the memory of 18-year-old Harley Amos, who was killed in a hit and run last year at Dimbulah.
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Ms Bradley says a day doesn’t go by when she doesn’t think about her son and the family's life has been altered forever.
“We miss him every day,” she said.
“We just don't understand how someone can hit and run over him and leave him there to die alone.
“His loss not only devastated his family and friends but the communities of Mossman and Trinity Beach.
“Life will never be the same for us. We still have our down days where it is just too hard. We want our Scotty back. This should never of happened(sic).”
On 3 September 2016, Scotty, 24, left the pub at Mossman at 4.15 am and walked down Junction Road
Fifteen minutes later, a man on his way to work found him on the road and phoned triple zero.
Two years later, Troy Anthony Salam was sentenced to a six-month imprisonment term, suspended for 18 months, at Mossman Magistrates Court for the hit and run crime.
He also had his licence disqualified for 12 months following a guilty plea.
Ms Bradley said the punishment did not fit the crime and the petition is about getting justice for the lost sons of the three families.
“It was an injustice that we lost Scotty and another injustice when Troy Anthony Salam walked free from court,” she said.
“My son's life apparently was not valued highly by the court.
“We need everyone to sign and share the petition; it is only with the help of the communities, that we can change the laws.
“The more signatures we get the more likely the government will listen and change the law to stop this from happening to other families.”
Just over 19,000 people have signed the petition addressed to Minister for Police Mark Ryan and Minister for Transport and Main Roads Mark Bailey.