Ryan Kenny pleads guilty to crash that killed Amanda and Harrison Kilmister

Kenny, 33, of Mooroopna, admitted he had used methamphetamine and had been driving for 14 hours and awake for 19 hours during that day when, behind the wheel of his Western Star prime mover at Brimin on November 2, 2018, he drove onto the wrong side of the Murray Valley Highway and caused a head-on crash.

Amanda, 37, who was driving, and Harrison died at the scene, while father Paul and their 2-year-old and 8-month-old boys were taken to hospital with injuries.

Crown prosecutor Kristie Churchill told the County Court on Monday this warranted a "lengthy term of imprisonment", which was accepted by Kenny's defence barrister.

Paul Kilmister was not expected to recover from his injuries, but eventually woke from his coma on Christmas Day 2018 and has had a long and difficult recovery as he learns to live with an acquired brain injury.

In a victim impact statement read to the court, he wrote that he was angry that it took two years for Kenny to admit his guilt.

"I feel angry that his careless and reckless actions destroyed my family and ripped it apart," he said.

"I feel angry that my children have to grow up without their mother, I feel angry that I lost the love of my life.

"I have absolute hatred for Mr Kenny and this is something that will never leave me."

Kenny pleaded guilty to two counts of culpable driving causing death due to negligence and being under the influence of drugs, two counts of causing serious injury by negligent driving, and destruction of evidence by concealing after hiding his national work diary.

"At the time of the collision, the accused was fatigued and driving with methamphetamine in his system," Ms Churchill said.

"Expert opinion is that methamphetamine is capable of rendering a person incapable of having proper control of a motor vehicle."

Kenny only sustained minor injuries in the crash himself, and had been transporting offal and animal body parts from Tongala Abattoir to Wodonga.

The Kilmister family had been returning from an evening at the Corowa RSL.

A police analysis of the scene found Amanda Kilmister had tried to swerve her Audi to the right before the collision.

Her last words were to tell people at the scene that "the truck was on the wrong side of the road".

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Kenny was required by law to note his hours in a logbook, but it could not be found at the scene.

He had been missing from the crash scene when bypassers stopped to help and it was not until 26 days after the crash that police found his logbook, a small amount of ice and an ice pipe hidden in a tree about 140 metres along the road.

"Immediately after this incident, he had the wherewithal to hide materials and evidence, which would have been incriminating and could have well been used against his own interests," Judge Carolene Gwinn said.

"His primary interest at that point in time, was his own interests and not that of the family."

Kenny's defence barrister Ron Gipp told the court that Kenny was "just an ordinary bloke" who had been driving trucks for 12 years and nothing in his personal history could explain what happened on the day.

He said Kenny was working too hard to support his family, choosing to drive longer hours than legally allowed and take ice to help him stay awake - he did not have a drug addiction.

"He knew the rules, he knew better," Mr Gipp said.

"He was driving excessively long hours because he was trying to make money to support his family and support his children."

Kenny had twice been caught with ice in his system while driving in the past.

The court heard there were concerns about Kenny's mental health, as he suffers anxiety about his guilt, regret and remorse.

"On behalf of the Kenny family, they would like to extend their condolences to the Kilmister family. I know it's of very little consolation to the Kilmister family," Mr Gipp said.

He said members of the Kenny family were also victims of the tragedy, particularly his wife, 5-year-old daughter and 3-year old son.

Kenny's defence barrister Ron Gipp admitted the plea of guilty came late.

"I know the Kilmister family have been affected by the lateness of the plea," he said.

"It's quite clear that when he was spoken to by police the next day, that he has not told them the truth.

"He denied taking drugs, that he was on the wrong side of the road."

A psychological report found it was probable that Kenny unconsciously suppressed aspects of the crash and his behaviour afterwards because he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and the details were too confronting to process.

This led to Kenny originally telling police the other car was on the wrong side of the road and a denial he took ice.

He has since improved his cooperation with police.

In a brief appearance in the witness box in court, Kenny replied "yes" when asked if he would give evidence against the companies that he worked for - one as a fill-in that day and the other in the 10 days earlier when he drove more hours than legally allowed because he felt pressured by the company.

"It's not a smoking gun in the sense it discloses offences that were otherwise unknown or anything in that nature, but it is of benefit and the offender is entitled to a meaningful discount (on his sentence)," Ms Churchill said.

It is a matter Judge Carolene Gwynn will take into account when handing down her sentence on February 1.

Kenny was taken into custody on Monday after the hearing to begin serving his sentence.

Culpable driving has a maximum sentence of 20 years in jail, but the prosecution was not asking for the maximum to be handed down - the charge attracts an average sentence of eight years in jail.

The deaths of a wife and mother, and son and brother will have an everlasting effect on the Kilmister family.

The two youngest boys of Amanda and Paul Kilmister will not have memories of their mother and the oldest Felix will move to boarding school to complete year 12 studies away from a family still recovering two years after the tragedy.

"All of this has left me in pieces and emotionally scarred," Felix said in his victim impact statement to the court.

"Nobody should have to go through this, let alone a then 14-year-old.

"I'm lucky to have such devoted friends and family who were there to support me and to help resolve the bitter hatred that was eating away at me - hatred for the situation I've been placed in and hatred for the person who caused the death of my mum and brother."

Felix, who was at a friend's house at the time of the crash, also described the regret he felt at not saying a proper goodbye to his mother and how he was left scarred by the sight of his father and brothers in hospital.

Paul Kilmister reflected in his statement on Amanda as a loving mother who would do anything for their boys, and the "good-natured, cheeky, mischievous" Harrison who was intelligent and wanted to be a doctor.

"I feel ripped off that I have had the opportunity of Harrison growing up and forging his own life taken away from me," he said.

His sister Cheryl-Anne Sheridan, who looked after the two youngest boys while he was in hospital, told the court about the family's ongoing pain, saying "so much was taken from our lives the day Harry and Amanda were stolen from us".