Melbourne driver jailed for fleeing fiery highway motorcycle crash

A man who fled the scene of a fiery fatal Melbourne crash with a motorcyclist will spend at least 22 months behind bars.

Santino Bankal, 28, was a disqualified driver behind the wheel of an unregistered car when Ashleigh Gason, 21, collided with his car on the Nepean Highway at Brighton in July 2017.

The County Court of Victoria was told yesterday that Bankal spent only 60 to 80 seconds at the scene, before walking off and hailing a cab.

Judge Sue Pullen described his actions as "inhumane, callous and cowardly".

She noted Bankal was not being sentenced for causing Mr Gason's death.

Bankal's lawyer had argued his departure from the scene did not change the outcome for Mr Gaston, but the judge said that was "not the point".

"Your failure to render assistance in the circumstances... was callous on the extreme," she said.

Bankal was sentenced to three years and three months' imprisonment, and must serve at least 22 months in jail before being eligible for parole.

He has been disqualified from obtaining a driver's licence for six years.

In sentencing, Judge Pullen noted that Bankal had a difficult life, having been born in war-torn Sudan, shot in the leg at age six, and spent time in a refugee camp.

But she said the offender’s history did not excuse his failure to stop and render assistance after the crash in Brighton.

Outside court, Mr Gaston’s father Mark said he’s “still broken” by his son’s death.

“A sentence doesn’t fix anything. He’s (Bankal) going to jail for a few years, but we have a lifetime of this going on.”