TWO cities have come together as one in support of jailed Ballarat Gold Bus driver Jack Aston o protests the severity of his jail sentence.
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Mr Aston’s family have been buoyed by the public outcry against the judicial system after Mr Aston was jailed for five years with a two-and-a-half year non-parole period for his part in a bus crash in February 2016 which injured six people.
Mr Aston, who himself broke his neck, when the Gold Bus he was driving crashed into the notorious Montague Street Bridge was sentenced earlier this month after being found guilty of six charges of negligently causing serious injury.
But the severity of the sentence has rocked the community with rallies held in Melbourne on Sunday at the scene of the crash and at the Bridge Mall to support the husband and father who had no previously driving convictions.
An estimated crowd of more than 300 people turned out at the rally in South Melbourne to protest the severity of his sentence followed by another 200 who protested in Ballarat
“We’ve had unbelievable feedback from the community, everyone has been so incredibly supportive,” Mr Aston’s wife Wendy said.
“We had people come up today from Geelong, even someone from Bright who said they had heard about the story and felt they had to be there in support, we can’t thank them enough.
“Gold Bus have also been incredibly supportive, they gave us a bus for the day to get people to Melbourne who wanted to be at both rallies.”
Mrs Aston said she had only seen her husband twice since he was jailed, with him now residing in Port Phillip Prison.
She said work was underway on an appeal which needed to be lodged by January 14
Gold Bus acting depot manager Mark Burnett said the sentence had rocked the company.
“It could have been any one of us,” Mr Burnett said. “If anything it’s brought all of us together.
“We will do anything we can for Jack, Wendy and the kids. I can’t comment a great deal on the sentence but it has come as a great shock.”
Protester Debbie said it was not fair that someone without a criminal record could be treated so poorly, while murderers and rapists were let out. “Look at what happened to Jill Meagher, that should never happen this has really struck a chord,” she said.
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