<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>336874</docID> <postdate>2025-01-23 16:12:07</postdate> <headline>Five-and-a-half years’ jail for driver who killed five</headline> <body><p><img class="size-full wp-image-336875" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241127156151096700-original-1-scaled.jpg" alt="" width="2560" height="1707" /></p> <caption>Christopher Dillon Joannidis pleaded guilty to five counts of dangerous driving causing death. (Joel Carrett/AAP PHOTOS)</caption> <p class="wire-column__preview__author"><span class="kicker-line">By <b>Emily Woods</b> in Melbourne</span></p> <p><strong>A driver has been locked up for five-and-a-half years after being warned by police about a dangerous intersection before he drove through it and killed five people.</strong></p> <p>Minutes before one of the deadliest crashes in Victoria's history, in April 2023, two officers told Christopher Joannidis about the roads in Strathmerton.</p> <p>"We've had nine killed on it in the last 18 months, basically because people don't see give way and stop signs," a police officer told him, in a video played to the County Court in November.</p> <p>But the 31-year-old man did not heed this warning.</p> <p>He crossed over three sets of rumble strip and ignored give way signs as he drove from Labuan Road onto the Murray Valley Highway.</p> <p>Joannidis' Mercedes Benz sedan crashed into a Nissan Navara ute with five people and a dog inside, pushing it into the path of a truck towing two trailers of milk.</p> <p>The ute's driver Deborah Markey, 62, her dog Sophie and four farm workers from Taiwan and Hong Kong staying at her home - Zhi-Yao Chen, Pin-Yu Wang, Wai Yan Lam and Hsin-Yu Chen - were all killed instantly.</p> <p>Joannidis, who pleaded guilty to five counts of dangerous driving causing death, had his bail revoked when he faced the County Court in Melbourne in November.</p> <p>Dangerous driving causing death is an offence which must receive a sentence of imprisonment, unless the court finds the accused qualifies for a legal exemption.</p> <p>Defence barrister Paul Smallwood argued Joannidis shouldn't be jailed because of his psychiatric conditions, including obsessive-compulsive disorder.</p> <p>"Jail for him will be very different than jail for someone without this disorder," he told the court on Thursday morning.</p> <p>But prosecutor Daniel Porceddu argued if Joannidis took anti-depressants and anti-psychotics - which he had refused to do - this could help manage his OCD.</p> <p>"The person who has made imprisonment more burdensome is the prisoner himself," he said.</p> <p>Judge Gavan Meredith found a prison term was the only sentence he could hand down for the "horrific" crash given the seriousness of Joannidis' offending.</p> <p>However, he also took into account the driver's remorse, good rehabilitation prospects and how his mental health will impact his time behind bars.</p> <p>The judge handed Joannidis a maximum five-year and six-month jail term.</p> <p>Joannidis, who has already served 59 days of his sentence, will be eligible for parole after serving at least three years of his term.</p> </body>