A drunk driver who ran over a tent with a family asleep inside at a Lake Barrington campground has been jailed.
Stephen James Gatenby, 32, was sentenced in the Supreme Court of Tasmania on September 16 to two years and six months in jail, with the last nine months suspended.
A jury found him guilty of causing grievous bodily harm by dangerous driving.
Justice Tamara Jago said Gatenby had been drinking heavily at the campground on December 31, 2021 and needed help walking up a hill to his brother’s camp.
The court heard he tackled his brother to the ground after being told to go to bed, then ran to his car as others tried to stop him from driving.
Gatenby drove about 20 metres downhill with his headlights off before running over a tent where a boy was sleeping with his mother, her partner and two siblings.
The tent was dragged several metres under the car.
The boy suffered a broken ankle, fractures to his pelvis and hip, a damaged spleen and a deep friction burn to his leg.
He spent three weeks in hospital and needed a skin graft. The court heard he will likely need further surgery as he grows.
Jago said Gatenby kept driving after hitting the tent, crashing into two trees and driving through another campsite before campers wrestled the keys from him.
“It was pure luck that you did not strike anyone else,” she said.
She said it was also “extremely fortunate” Gatenby “did not kill someone” that night.
A blood test taken after his arrest returned a reading of 0.218.
Gatenby was on a P1 licence at the time and was serving a community correction order for assault.
Jago rejected his claims that others were to blame, describing his evidence as a “reconstruction” and an attempt to “avoid having to accept responsibility”.
“I accept you are genuinely upset about the harm that was caused and you find it more palatable to suggest there was some intervening event that contributed to the course your vehicle took, rather than acknowledge this all happened because you drove a motor vehicle when you were so intoxicated that you could not even walk properly,” she said.
Jago took into account Gatenby’s intellectual disability, his role caring for his children and the fact he had not offended since.
His sentence was backdated to June 22 and he will be eligible for parole after serving half of the unsuspended term.
Gatenby is also banned from driving for two years after his release.
