After an argument with his girlfriend, Scott Death quickly reversed out of his driveway and drove towards an intersection in Cowra, in central western NSW, on the evening of December 16, 2023.
With what he later described to police as "tunnel vision", Death accelerated towards the intersection metres from his house and crashed into a minibus.
The Cowra Bowling Club courtesy bus, which was carrying passengers home after a night out, violently rotated on Fitzroy Avenue, ejecting and killing 84-year-old Raymond Padgett.
Five others, including Mr Padgett's 78-year-old best mate and the 61-year-old bus driver, were injured.
Death, 34, was on Thursday sentenced to at least 18 months' jail, having admitted a string of charges including dangerous driving occasioning death, mid-range drink driving and making false statements.
Mr Padgett was described as a loving father and grandfather, a great mate, and the "loveliest of friends", Judge Penny Musgrave said.
"Nothing the court has the power to do can compensate for the loss of Mr Padgett," she told the NSW District Court in Orange.
The court was told Death walked home from an event earlier in the evening after drinking five cans of mixed spirits, but got in his car after the argument to visit his grandfather's grave to calm down.
After the crash Death ran to assist the bus passengers, including Mr Padgett who he knew through the older man's family.
But, in fear of going to jail, Death initially denied he was involved in the crash and told police his car had been stolen.
He went to Cowra police station and admitted his involvement in the crash two days later.
"He (said he) had put his foot down on the accelerator, he apologised for lying and to everyone involved," Judge Musgrave said.
Death occasionally sobbed as he sat in the dock listening to the judge, watched on by a large group of his extended family and the victims' relatives on either side of the courtroom.
Many on both sides of the public gallery knew each other before the crash, part of the connected rural community of 12,000 people.
Judge Musgrave said she accepted that Death was "genuinely and deeply" remorseful.
But his level of intoxication, with a blood-alcohol reading of .101, and his lies to investigators added another level of criminality to the crash.
The judge acknowledged Death was living with a bipolar disorder and was not medicated at the time.
She set a maximum term of three years and two months' jail, disqualified him from driving for nine months and ordered he then have an interlock device fitted to his car for a 12-month period.
Death will be eligible for parole in September 2026.
"See you in a year," he said quietly to relatives as he left the dock.
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