A Melbourne truck driver who caused a fiery crash when he drove through a stop sign has been found guilty of killing a husband and wife and two of their children.
Jobandeep Gill, 28, ignored multiple road warnings as he approached an intersection at Catani, southeast of Melbourne, on February 28 last year, a jury has found.
His truck hit a car carrying Stephen and Jade Beckett and their daughter Ella, 6, and son William, 2, who were all killed.
Nine-year-old Samuel Beckett was pulled to safety by a passer-by before the car was engulfed by flames.
Gill was charged with four counts of culpable driving causing death, but pleaded not guilty.
His barrister Tony Lavery told a Victorian County Court trial the engineering of the road made it difficult to see the intersection.
"The engineering of that road was grossly inadequate," Mr Lavery said.
Gill was at the mercy of road authorities, he said.
Prosecutor Jeremy McWilliams said police found no evidence Gill stopped or slowed his Hino heavy rigid truck before the collision.
There were numerous warnings along the road, including signs at least 249 metres before the intersection and red rumble strips on the road almost 80 metres leading up to the stop sign, the court heard.
On Thursday, a jury found the Noble Park man guilty of all charges.
Speaking outside court, Mrs Beckett's aunt, Stella Jovanovic, said the family wished he had acknowledged he had made a mistake.
"I wished he'd just said he'd made a mistake," she told reporters.
"I just wished he'd said: `I've done wrong, I'm sorry,' we haven't even got that from him, he won't acknowledge us at all.
"We could have moved on."
Mrs Beckett's daughter Victoria, 17, said it had been very hard.
"It was one of the worst days of my life."
Samuel is doing really well, Ms Jovanovic said.
Gill will return to court on Friday for a pre-sentence hearing before County Court Judge Geoffrey Chettle.
Share
