Doonan's Stephen Small had lived in the Noosa area for more than a decade, but previously had an impressive cycling career in the UK.

Doonan's Stephen Small had lived in the Noosa area for more than a decade, but previously had an impressive cycling career in the UK.

UPDATE 4PM: After Nathan Craig MacDonald ran down cyclist Stephen Small at Doonan last year police found his ute 1.5km down the road with Mr Small's bicycle still embedded in the bumper.



He told officers "my bad, I messed up", but since then has shown no remorse for killing the 42-year-old father who was riding home in a marked cycle lane, the judge who today sentenced him to jail said.



It was a difficult two hours for those who loved the "typical English larrikin" watching on in the Maroochydore District Court gallery as crown prosecutor Sam Bain told the court MacDonald did not brake or stop when he ploughed into Mr Small from behind, killing him instantly.



Judge John Robertson said Mr Small had no chance to take evasive action as MacDonald drove into him, the left side of his ute fully in the marked bike lane.

"It is beyond belief that you couldn't have known that you hit him from the sound of the bicycle dragging down the road," he said.



Stephen Small with his son Oscar.

The fatal collision ended a half-hour long period of "reprehensible" dangerous driving in which MacDonald, who was severely intoxicated, deliberately tried to run down another cyclist, Rod Wilcox, at Noosaville.



In a psychologist's report presented to the court MacDonald claimed he had an alcoholic blackout and had no memory of the what happened after he and his friend Corey Michael Sinclair got into his dual cab ute and left the Noosa River, where they had been drinking and swimming.



Defence barrister John Fraser said MacDonald, who ran a cleaning business before being arrested immediate after the crash and kept in custody since, had no criminal history, and while he had 10 speeding fines, he had never been convicted of drink driving or dangerous driving.



"He comes to the court a man essentially of good character, a good family man with solid work history and a man who has made a contribution to the community," he said.



How it unfolded: March 14 2016

Judge Robertson said Mr Wilcox had been lucky to escape with his life, and MacDonald had callously left Mr Small alone on the roadside after running him down, making no attempt to help him.



"I've been a judge for over 20 years and this is one of the most serious examples of dangerous driving causing death that I've come across," he said.



He said the psychologists report revealed MacDonald showed no feelings of remorse for what he had done.



"Clearly your concern there was mainly for yourself and your family," he said.



He sentenced MacDonald to nine years in prison for killing Mr Small, and set his parole eligibility date at March 14, 2020, four years after Mr Small's death and MacDonald's incarceration.



For his attack on Mr Wilcox, MacDonald was sentenced to four years in jail. He will serve both sentences concurrently.



After MacDonald was led away, Mr Small's former partner Yolanda Brady said the 16 months since the father of her five-year-old son died had been agonising.



MacDonald pleaded guilty to two counts of dangerous driving on March 13, the day before the anniversary of Mr Small's death.



"They say it's an early plea but for us 12 months was a long time of pain and suffering, confusion, ill communication and really just feeling like we're left in the dark for a lot of it," Ms Brady said outside court.



"We're 16 months down the track; I've really just got to think about whether this sentencing is suitable."





Geoff Potter

UPDATE 12.30PM: The driver who killed 42-year-old cyclist Stephen Small at Doonan last year and tried to run down another cyclist at Noosaville will spend at least the next two years and nine months in jail.



The father and well-respected member of the cycling community was riding home from work along Eumundi Noosa Rd about 6.15pm on March 14 last year, when Nathan Craig MacDonald crashed his ute into him in what Judge John Robertson called one of the worst cases of dangerous driving while intoxicated he had seen in 20 years.



Mr Small suffered catastrophic injuries and died at the scene of the crash.

This morning MacDonald, 36, who in March pleaded guilty to dangerous driving while intoxicated causing Mr Small's death and leaving the scene of the crash, was sentenced to nine years in jail.



He has been in custody since the night Mr Small died, will be eligible to apply for parole in March 2020, four years after the crash.



MacDonald also pleaded guilty to dangerous driving while intoxicated over the incident that happened about half-an-hour before Mr Small was killed, in which MacDonald chased cyclist Rod Wilcox, who had to hide behind a power pole off Gympie Tce to avoid being hit.

For that charge he was sentenced to four years jail.



Cyclists outside Maroochydore court with a show of solidarity as the man who killed Stephen Small in Doonan last year is sentenced. John McCutcheon

Nathan Craig MacDonald pleaded guilty in March to dangerous driving causing the death of the 42-year-old father and well-respected member of the cycling community in a crash at Doonan last year.

This morning cyclists wearing a special kit created in honour of Mr Small, so his son Oscar could remember his dad as a cyclist, rode en masse from Noosa to Maroochydore in a show of solidarity.

Mr Small's former partner, Yolanda Brady, said his death had hit the cycling community hard.

"It's really affected the cycling community and really has frightened a lot of people," she said.