A man who killed two Wangaratta motorbike riders while driving on ice has been jailed for at least two years.
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Ashley McDonald, 38, crashed his car into Barry Holland and Ross Stewart on the Goorambat-Thoona Road at Goorambat on December 14, 2021.
Mr Stewart died at the scene and Mr Holland, who suffered horrific injuries including a severed spine and leg damage that required amputation, died on January 8, 2022.
Checks showed McDonald's Toyota HiLux had been 1.9 metres onto the wrong side of the road at the time of the collision.
Tests at Benalla hospital revealed "significant" levels of methamphetamine in his blood that would have impacted his driving skills.
Loved ones expressed their grief in the Wangaratta County Court earlier this week ahead of McDonald being sentenced on Wednesday, April 24.
"The silence in our home, the empty chair at the dinner table, the lonely bed at night and my lonely retirement days ... life will forever be a lonely journey now," Mr Holland's wife Shirley said.
"Life doesn't seem worth living if it wasn't with my loving husband."
Graham Holland said the thought of his brother being injured in a ditch with a broken spine haunted him and would stay with him forever.
He didn't get a chance to say goodbye to his brother due to Covid hospital restrictions in place at the time.
McDonald provided police with a no comment interview.
He had contested more serious charges before pleading guilty to two counts of dangerous driving causing death.
Judge Peter Lauritsen noted the plea had been made about two-thirds of the way through the legal process.
"You should not have been driving at all at that stage," he told McDonald of his ice use, noting the drug levels were "significant and affected your driving skills".
The judge said McDonald should have taken great care on the road, given it was a blind corner.
But he noted the father-of-two had no criminal record, was of good character and had excellent prospects of rehabilitation.
Judge Lauristen ordered he serve a maximum term of three-and-a-half years in jail.
He will be able to apply for parole after two years.
