A drunken boat operator who left a woman in a coma for six days and a family member with a fractured femur has been jailed for at least two years.
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Jamie Dean Bleakley, 38, flung his fiancee's son and a female friend into a tree on the banks of Lake Hume at high speed during the incident on March 1, 2020.
Bleakley, who has a string of priors for drink-driving, had been consuming alcohol all day and blew a reading of 0.149 more than an hour after the accident.
A blood test showed an even higher alcohol reading and also detected fentanyl, which he was prescribed.
Bleakley appeared in the County Court this week after pleading guilty to two charges of negligently causing serious injury.
The Border man had been using his boat and towing a biscuit dangerously at Ebden in the hours before the incident, and had been trying to fling people off his boat.
The female victim's father had been so concerned by the behaviour in the lead up to the incident, he sent Bleakley's fiancee a message asking "what the f--- are you people thinking" after viewing a Facebook video.
Bleakley had been getting the biscuit closer and closer to the water's edge before crashing the pair into the tree.
His boat shouldn't have been travelling at more than five knots, but was estimated to have been at 13 knots at the time.
"Watch this, they are going to be so scared, I'm going to swing them near the trees," he told someone in the boat immediately before the crash.
His partner's son was knocked out and the woman was unconscious, face down in the water and bleeding.
The female victim was flown to hospital with blunt force head trauma, including a fractured skull and face bones, and hasn't worked since the incident.
Doctor Angela Sungaila noted the impact of Bleakley's intoxication.
"At this level, Mr Bleakley would have been entirely unable to maintain control of his vehicle," the doctor said.
Judge Robert Dyer said he had shown an "idiotic disregard for the likely risk of serious injury, or even death, to innocent victims from within your own family and close friendship group".
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"I cannot ignore that through the afternoon you had continued to drink alcohol, you continued to use your powerboat, in this matter that was in my opinion irresponsible and highly likely to result in innocent people being injured," he said.
Judge Dyer noted Bleakley had a string of priors of alcohol related driving.
The Albury District Court heard in 2013 that Bleakley had five such priors, the first when he was 17.
Magistrate Tony Murray had imposed a six month jail term on two counts of high-range drink-driving and disqualified driving, which a judge overturned.
Judge Dyer imposed a three year and three month maximum for the Lake Hume incident this week.
The court heard he was considered a high risk of re-offending.
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