Driver jailed for deaths of two young boys

Margaret Scheikowski | October 14, 2022

As a mother and four boys walked along a footpath after visiting the local pool, she saw an out-of-control red Commodore heading straight for them.

Shayleen Frail tried to throw the children out of the way but the car ploughed into the group, killing her two young sons.

The unlicensed and drug-affected driver, Jacob Steven Donn, was jailed on Friday for 13 years with a non-parole period of nine years.

He was speeding before performing fishtails along a residential street in Wellington, in the NSW central west, and stopped when the car hit a fence causing the bumper to be torn.

But he resumed doing fishtails and the car skidded out of control, hit a brick wall and continued along the footpath colliding with the victims.

“The message must be sent to our community in clear and unequivocal terms that cars are not playthings,” said Judge Craig Smith in Dubbo District Court.

Donn pleaded guilty to the the manslaughter of the Shorey brothers, Shane, 7, and Sheldon, 6, on January 5, 2021.

He also pleaded guilty to aggravated dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm to Ms Frail and to a boy whose leg had to be amputated.

The 27-year-old also admitted a charge of wanton driving occasioning bodily harm to the fourth young boy.

Donn, who had never held a licence, was found to have five drugs in his system including methamphetamine and heroin.

After the crash, Donn got out saying: “I am sorry, I didn’t mean it” and helped another man extricate a boy from under the car.

“He apologised to Shayleen and then fled the scene,” the judge said.

In her victim impact statement, Ms Frail said she would do anything to watch her two football-loving sons dance their little corroborees again.

“No parent should ever have to bury your child – I had to bury two.”

When she was injured and trapped at the crash she said she begged Donn to help her, but “you just left, you took off like a coward”.

The brothers were living in the Queensland town of Emerald with their father Joseph Shorey at the time and were visiting their mother for the school holidays.

Mr Shorey told the judge he felt helpless for a third boy who survived the crash but who now just walked around lonely and sad.

His beloved sons had wanted to be a policeman and a fireman and play for the NRL.

“We will never be the same again no matter what we try to do to move on.”

The judge noted the need for general deterrence in sentencing, saying driving a car was like driving a weapon.

Donn drove like he did for “his own amusement” while he was very substantially impaired by drugs.

“The victims were known to this offender. 

“He did not suffer injuries.”

Donn, who had a profoundly disadvantaged upbringing, was clearly very sorry for what happened.

“I accept it was his own mother who introduced him to heroin when he was about 16 and he continued to use it up to his arrest.”

His prospects for rehabilitation depended entirely on whether he used illegal drugs and took part in educational programs.