Tomas Targownik was driving the car, a Mazda 6 sedan, that killed Mr Uthayanan. An engineering graduate who had never been in trouble with the law before, Targownik had started smoking ice a couple of years before and that night – November 18, 2017 – he was on the drug when he got behind the wheel. Targownik had been clocked by a speed camera just before the crash driving at Formula One speeds – 216km/h. Another driver frantically pulled up onto the kerb and Targownik missed him by mere centimetres. Targownik was driving so quickly that the driver's car shuddered as he went past. ‘‘Your driving must been seen as truly shocking,’’ County Court Judge Paul Lacava said. The wreckage of Mr Uthayanan's Mercedes. ‘‘It is nothing short of a miracle that only one life was lost.’’

Targownik was sentenced on Wednesday to a minimum six years in prison. Mr Uthayanan’s widow Tharmini Balasingham said the length of sentence doesn’t help to cope with life without her husband. ‘‘I can’t even put into words how this has affected us. My son is not going to have a dad,’’ Ms Balasingham said in a statement. Tharmini Balasingham wants the government to address the 'underlying issues around mental health and drug use'. Credit:Simon Schluter She said Judge Lacava’s sentence, which carried a maximum nine years' imprisonment, builds public confidence in the legal system, but she called on the government to act on society's mental health and drug problems.

‘‘I would like to see the government prioritise addressing underlying issues around mental health and drug use,’’ Ms Balasingham said. Loading ‘‘That is an important part of road safety.’’ Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews promised a royal commission into the mental health system in the lead-up to last month’s election. Targownik, 34, had been admitted and released from hospital with drug-induced psychosis twice in the months before the November 2017 crash.

Targownik did not claim he was mentally impaired, though his lawyer argued he had underlying schizophrenia. He pleaded guilty to culpable driving causing death and reckless conduct endangering life. Experts could not agree whether Targownik, who couldn’t remember the crash, was in the grip of drug-induced psychosis or had underlying schizophrenia exacerbated by drug use. Tomas Targownik has been jailed for six years. Credit:Simon Schulter But Judge Lacava said the evidence did not show Targownik was affected by schizophrenia at the time of the crash.