news, local-news,

A DRIVER has been handed a wholly suspended sentence after he killed a cyclist on the West Tamar Highway. Timothy Wayne Yole, 26, pleaded guilty in the Launceston Magistrates Court last month to having caused the death of cyclist Lewis Hendey, 21, by negligent driving and having driven without due care and attention. Mr Hendey was on a training ride with his best mate when Yole's utility ran into the back of him in perfect driving conditions at Riverside about 8.24am on December 29 last year. The state forensic pathologist had determined that Mr Hendey would have died almost instantly. In the Launceston Magistrates Court today, magistrate Reg Marron jailed Yole for four months, wholly suspended for two years. He also disqualified Yole from driving for 18 months. Outside court, Mr Hendey's family declined to speak to the media. Cycling Tasmania executive officer Collin Burns spoke on their behalf and slammed the wholly suspended penalty as "manifestly inadequate". Mr Burns said he was still waiting for the state government to take action on the issue and realise that road users who kill others should go to jail.

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