Tasmania buggy crash: Thomas Rowlands jailed for killing friend Hayden Kennedy in Ouse incident

A man has been sentenced to three years jail time after pleading guilty to causing death by dangerous driving and driving above the alcohol limit in a buggy joyride that killed his friend. 

Thomas Rowlands, 26, and his friend Hayden Kennedy, 18, were riding in a Polaris ATV in Ouse, rural Tasmania on October 31, 2021 when the buggy flipped.

The pair were at a friend’s property celebrating a birthday when Rowlands, who was the driver, crashed the ATV. 

Neither of the riders were wearing helmets when Rowlands lost control of the vehicle on loose gravel 800m away from the gathering causing the buggy to collide with a tree stump at 96km/h. 

The buggy was being driven 16km/h above the road’s 80km/h speed limit and a police investigations found the vehicle was not meant to be driven on tracks at more than 40km/h. 

Mr Kennedy was pronounced dead at the scene and an autopsy later confirmed he died of a head injury. 

Mr Kennedy (pictured) was a much-loved member of the New Norfolk community in Tasmania

At the Supreme Court of Tasmania on Tuesday, Justice Michael Brett said that Rowland ‘should not have been driving the vehicle, or any vehicle at all’ with his blood-alcohol level being almost three times the legal limit at the time of the crash. 

‘This entire episode … (was) completely unnecessary and avoidable,’ Justice Brett said.

The victim worked at Tasmac as an apprentice diesel mechanic and had just been nominated for Apprentice of the Year. 

His death heavily impacted his local New Norfolk Community with local business Highfield Haulage & Contracting paying tribute to the teen immediately after his death with a photo of hay bales spelling out ‘Forever 18’. 

The caption read, ‘From one contractor to another, something for you to look down on from heaven today mate’. 

Hayden Kennedy is remembered in a dedicated Facebook post by local contracting company 

Mr Kennedy’s family and friends also continue to mourn him more than a year after his death. 

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In their victim impact statement at Hobart Supreme Court last week, Mr Kennedy’s parents said they ‘can’t remember what it’s like not to grieve’.

Peta Kennedy, Hayden’s mum, told the court ‘we were a loving family, now we’re just husband and wife’.

Hayden’s dad Mark said ‘all these milestones have been ripped from me .. my only son is gone.. I never got to say goodbye’.

 ‘A parent should never have to feel the pain of outliving their child.’

Isobel Hodge, Mr Kennedy’s girlfriend, reminisced on the life they could’ve had together.

‘I can never talk to him, never hold him, never hear him laugh,’ she said.

‘We were about to embark together on the adventures of adulthood … we were planning a tremendous life together.’

‘We didn’t get a middle and end, our journey only had a beginning.’

Kennedy and his partner Isobel had been together for two years and were planning a future

Justice Brett said the impact of Mr Kennedy’s death on the entire community had been ‘profound and permanent’.

Rowland also struggles with killing his friend with his defence counsel Damien Geason telling the court his client’s ‘primary source of distress’ was coming from causing the death of his mate.

The court heard Rowland suffers from post traumatic stress disorder and regularly has nightmares about the ordeal. 

Rowlands has also been abused and harassed following the incident, and has had rocks thrown at his house. 

Justice Brett described Rowlands as a highly motivated and successful individual who was otherwise a person of good character.

However, he said it was a ‘serious example’ of dangerous driving at excessive speed and without regard to conditions.

Rowlands will be eligible for parole after serving 18 months of his three-year jail term. He was also fined $400 because the buggy was unregistered.