Politics
Millionaire Porsche driver branded ‘Australia’s most hated man’ by judge after taunting dying cops trapped in crash
A MILLIONAIRE thug has been labelled “Australia’s most hated man” after filming himself taunting dying police officers as they lay crushed under a truck and calling it “justice”.
A Melbourne judge scolded Richard Pusey, 42, as he pleaded to be spared further time in custody, while admitting to charges including outraging public decency.
Richard Pusey has been labelled ‘Australia’s most hated man’ by a Melbourne judge[/caption]
Porsche-driving mortgage broker, Pusey previously pleaded guilty to filming and mocking four dying officers as they lay on the ground before him dying in Melbourne, Australia last year.
He was heard saying: “that’s amazing” and “that is f***ing justice” while recording the video last year after he was pulled for speeding.
Judge Trevor Wraight acknowledged the public outrage over Pusey’s actions and said he was “probably the most hated man in Australia” during Wednesday’s pre-sentencing hearing.
The incident took place after Pusey was stopped for speeding at 149 kilometers (93 miles) per hour in his Porsche.
The officers were discussing whether to impound the car when a truck being driven by Mohinder Singh swerved into them.
He escaped the crash only because he was urinating on the side of the road.
Pusey then pulled out his phone from the nearby cop car and started filming for more than three minutes, as one of the officers lay wedged between the truck and the car, while others were already dead.
He zoomed in on their faces and injuries as he continued to mock them.
He said: “Oh he’s smashed. Look at that. Look at that. Lucky I went and had a piss.”
”Look at that man, you f***ing c***s. You c***s. I guess I’ll be getting a f***ing Uber home, huh.”
Witnesses pleaded with him to stop filming, but he continued: “That is f***ing justice, absolutely amazing, that is f***ing amazing.”
Emergency services at the scene of the horror crash, which killed four officers[/caption]
Pusey rebuffed the pleas to help senior constables Lynette Taylor and Kevin King, and constables Glen Humphris and Josh Prestney, or shield their bodies with blankets, saying “they’re dead”.
He left the scene in the car of a passer-by and proceeded to show the footage to a receptionist at his doctor’s office and staff members at a chemist.
Pusey also sent photos to people he knew including a federal police officer.
After handing himself in to police the next day, he said he didn’t mean to be “horrible”.
He told them: “That’s how s*** comes out of my head. I’m highly offensive.”
In March, he pleaded guilty to outraging public decency, speeding and reckless conduct during the hearing.
He also admitted possessing MDMA, after returning positive tests results for both ecstasy and marijuana at the time when he was pulled over.
His lawyer, Dermot Dann QC, asked the judge to consider a community corrections order for his client, saying he has not been presented in a right way in the media and his actions had “taken hold in the public imagination”.
Dann said Pusey had a severe personality disorder that played into his “disordered self-absorbed world” at the scene.
He argued his client had been very mentally ill for a long time and tried to get help only to be turned away by some services.
Dann said: “He’s ashamed and was ashamed of the recording and what is said on the recording.”
Richard Pusey fled the scene of the truck crash on Melbourne’s Eastern Freeway[/caption]
He told the court Pusey had been in shock and did not taunt the officers, even though it was construed as such.
However, prosecutor Robyn Harper said Pusey’s actions were “deliberate, callous and deprived”.
The judge agreed to access Pusey for the community order before he would be sentenced in a hearing in late April.
Pusey apologised to the four dead police officers’ families through his lawyer.
Singh, the man who was behind the wheels pleaded guilty to 10 charges and is due to be sentenced next month.
Pusey has already spent 268 days in pre-sentence detention and is due to be sentenced on 28 April.
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He faces potential five years in prison in maximum sentence.
Local media reported that the offence of outraging public decency was rarely prosecuted in Australia.
It was Victoria Police’s largest ever loss of officers’ lives in a single incident.
