It was, said De Costa’s counsel Glen Prentice, a “bad error of judgement”. While De Costa had driven through the red light, CCTV footage had revealed the boy had run out onto the road in front of his car.
”It’s an unfortunate chain of events. He is very remorseful,” Prentice said.
De Costa had no previous charges but had incurred demerit points on his driver’s licence for incidents in 2018 and 2012. He had pled guilty at an earlier appearance and was keen to participate in a restorative justice conference with the victim’s family.
They, however, were not keen.