Man to be sentenced in Tamworth court after Lake Keepit boat tragedy

"I do not write good morning on any communication anymore, as I mourn every day of my daughter's death," the father of the 13-year-old girl told a packed Tamworth Local Court.

"You wake up at night thinking it's a bad dream, then you have to remind yourself of the pain."

The man's 13-year-old daughter, and another 14-year-old girl, were tragically killed when the biscuit they were being towed on collided with a submerged tree at Lake Keepit, near Tamworth, on December 27, 2022.

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A man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was flanked by family members on Thursday when he fronted his sentencing hearing after earlier pleading guilty to two charges of operating a recreational vehicle negligently, and causing the death of the two teenage girls.

While reading a victim impact statement, the father of the 13-year-old girl said his daughter was filled with passion; and loved animals, being outdoors, her family, and travelling.

"She was evolving into a young woman," the father told the court.

He said his daughter's future life experiences had been taken from her when the biscuit she was riding on collided with the submerged trees at about 4pm on the day of the accident.

The father said it filled him with "horror" to think about what the teenagers went through in the moments before the collision.

"My heart bleeds," he said.

Agreed police facts show the man before the court was driving the ski boat when the two teenagers were sitting on a triangle biscuit behind the boat.

One other person, who was watching the teenagers, was also on the boat.

The ski boat was about 20 metres from old dead trees, which were sticking out of the water when the boat started going over a number of wakes, which had been created by another ski boat.

The biscuit started bouncing on the wakes and sliding towards the submerged trees, before colliding with a large tree sticking out of the water.

The girls were thrown from the biscuit and were laying motionless in the water.

The girls were driven back to the Ski Gardens Caravan Park where members of the public desperately tried to revive the teenagers as paramedics rushed to the scene.

In court, the man's defence barrister tendered a number of victim impact statements, character references, and a clean criminal record for the offender.

"Everybody speaks extremely highly of this man's character," the defence barrister said.

"There is real remorse."

He said the "tragic consequences" did not come as a result of the man acting dangerously, driving at a reckless speed, or not taking precautions.

"The collision was misjudgement," the defence barrister said.

He told the court the wake created by another boat is what caused the man to lose control.

The barrister said the man had been driving boats for more than 40 years, and was familiar with Lake Keepit.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Rob Baillie said the man had acted negligently by driving the boat too close to the tree line.

A video played in court showed drone footage of Lake Keepit, and the trees sticking out of the water.

"There was a known foreseeable danger," Sergeant Baillie said.

He said the boat was close enough that the biscuit itself collided with the trees.

"He was too close, undertaking a recreational activity, to the tree line."

Magistrate Julie Soars told the court she needed time to reflect on the submissions made, and the statements tendered to the court in the "very tragic matter".

"The consequences of this offending were of the most seriousness," she said.

Ms Soars adjourned the matter until later this month to hand down the sentence.

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