Commando monk turned degenerate druggie was high on ice and ketamine when he crashed into a loving couple – yet he’s jailed for just seven years
A former Buddhist monk warrior who was loaded on a deadly cocktail of drugs when he slammed his car head-on into a loving couple will serve just seven years jail.
Baramee Janorat, 22, of Melton West, killed Robert and Lynette Anderson, aged 69 and 68, in a head-on car crash in Bulla – northwest of Melbourne, in October 2019.
The iced-up drug fiend had a ‘primed syringe’ at the ready when he veered onto the wrong side of the road during a Mad Max-style joy ride that was caught on dash-cam.
The probationary driver was sentenced in the County Court of Victoria on Tuesday to 12-years in jail, with a non-parole period of just seven years and two months – he has already spent close to eight months behind bars.
The sentence, handed down by Judge Rosemary Carlin is unlikely to grant any peace to the Anderson’s devastated family.
Their son Craig and daughter Emma had delivered heart-breaking victim impact statements to the judge during a pre-sentence hearing.
‘The loss of both my parents as the result of such a careless and selfish act has left me devastated and angry,’ Mr Anderson said in court.
‘It has not only taken my mum and dad from me but my also my best friends. It’s also taken a loving nanny and poppy from their grandchildren.’
His sister told the court she now cried every day and the loss of her parents had left a ‘massive hole’ in her and her children’s lives.
‘I cry most nights on my way home after work, as that was when I would call my Mum,’ she told the court.
On the day of the tragic crash, Janorat had been off-his-face on a mixture of the deadly drugs ice, speed, fentanyl and ketamine.
The court heard he had been driving like a lunatic in his Holden Astra – at one point having a near miss with another motorist, whom he ‘gave the bird to’.
Judge Carlin refused to release the shocking video that captured what happened next.
The court heard Jonorat had previously been pinged for speeding and lost his licence in 2018.
He was tired at the time of the head-on crash, but police could find no sound reason for why he veered across Sunbury Road into the path of the Andersons.
The couple did not stand a chance and ploughed directly into the belligerent Janorat without having any chance to even brake.
Another motorist in a car ahead of them managed to veer out of the way a split-second before the crash.
When witnesses went to help the injured Janorat, they found his eyes rolling back into his head and grasping a ‘primed syringe’ of what police believed was more methamphetamine.
Janorat could have been jailed for 20 years after pleading guilty to two counts of culpable driving causing death.
Judge Carlin described Janorat as ‘grossly irresponsible’ and condemned him for his ‘selfish and dangerous’ behaviour.
The killer’s barrister had previously told the court that Janorat had suffered a rough childhood and quickly got onto drugs after migrating to Australia in 2007 from Thailand.
He returned to his homeland as an 18-year old where he spent nine months training as a Buddhist monk before training with the Thai military for a further five months.
Janorat had told his treating doctor that he loved to do drugs because they made him feel good and confident.
He had been working as a plasterer where he used ice daily at the time of the crash.
Janorat showed no emotion as he was sentenced on Tuesday.
Gone were the tears of his earlier pre-sentence hearing earlier this month when he broke down during the reading of the victim impact statements.
The court heard he had written the family a letter of apology.
In sentencing, Judge Carlin said she took into account Janorat’s youth, early plea, reasonable prospects of rehabilitation and the likely impact jail would have on him during the Covid pandemic.
