A P-plate driver who yanked on the handbrake moments before his car crashed and split in two, killing his young brother, will escape jail because a judge ruled his family had suffered enough.
Jayden Thomas Hearn, 25, was expected to stand trial in the Victorian County Court on Monday, but instead pleaded guilty to one count of culpable driving and two counts of reckless conduct endangering life.
Hearn was driving his Holden Commodore, with his two younger brothers inside, when he pulled on the handbrake as the vehicle travelled at 113km/h along a road at Broadford, north of Melbourne, on June 13, 2004.
The car crossed the Kilmore-Broadford Road, hit an oncoming vehicle and split in two.
Gareth Hearn, 12, was hurled 16 metres from the back seat and died at the scene.
The other brother Corey Hearn, and the driver of the second car, Marie Urquhart, suffered minor injuries.
In sparing Hearn a jail term, Judge Liz Gaynor on Monday said the family had suffered "unimaginable hardship and grief" after Gareth's death, including the loss of Hearn's father last year.
She told Hearn that given the exceptional family circumstances, she intended to impose a wholly suspended sentence.
"You and your family has suffered unimaginable hardship and grief," she said.
"I think it's extremely rare for a court to be presented with such a history of suffering as has been the case with your family since this terrible accident in June 2004."
Judge Gaynor said Hearn and his brother Corey had supported their mother to keep the family business going after their father died.
Hearn had at times been suicidal, she said.
Judge Gaynor said the Hearn family was "utterly decent and hard-working ... worthy citizens" and that Hearn himself was such a person.
"This has been a drawn out and terrible saga," she said.
The judge criticised earlier media reports that Hearn had lied to police about the circumstances of the crash.
"Nobody has lied or been dishonest," she said, adding that Hearn had suffered genuine amnesia after the accident and as a result could not recall pulling the handbrake.
Hearn will be sentenced on October 27.