Victor Desire Benjamin Grillot: French national sentenced for driving on the wrong side of road killing father

A French national has been jailed for 14 months after he killed a 45 year-old father and injured his two year-old son when he drove on the wrong side of a rural road in the Great Southern region. Victor Desire Benjamin Grillot, 27, drove about 800m on the wrong side of Broomehill-Gnowangerup Road in Pallinup before colliding with Michael Anthony Pisani’s car, killing him instantly. Mr Pisani’s two-year-old son Janus survived the crash - where both vehicles were travelling at the 110kmhr speed limit- receiving just bruising to his abdomen, shoulders and arms thanks to his child seat restraint. More than a dozen members of Mr Pisani’s family filled the gallery of the Perth District Court on Tuesday as Grillot was sentenced for dangerous driving causing death and dangerous driving causing bodily harm on July 8, 2025. Grillot’s mother and sister were also at the sentencing hearing as the court heard the 27-year-old was driving from his work at Barloo Stud farm to the pharmacy in Pallinup when the fatal accident happened. Prosecutor Nathan Fawkes said moments before the crash both drivers took evasive action but each swerved the same way causing them to collide head-on. Mr Pisani’s vehicle was shunted 15m off the road into the trees. He died at the scene from extensive head and leg injuries. Emergency service workers released Janus from his rear child seat and noticed that he appeared in shock, drowsy and vomited but otherwise escaped with only bruising. Grillot required surgery for a broken arm. He had a blood sample taken and tested but no alcohol was detected. Mr Fawkes said while he was being interviewed by police he made “admissions to being very tired after work and was driving on the incorrect side of the road”. Grillot’s lawyer Tom Percy KC said Grillot was “inordinately remorseful” about the crash and was receiving weekly psychological counselling. Mr Percy asked for a suspended sentence pointing out his client’s good character. “He is a responsible young man unlike a lot that your Honour might see,” he said District Court Judge John Prior accepted that Grillot was “tired” and that subconsciously, “he thought he was driving in France” where motorists drive on the right side of the road. “There lies the problem for foreign road users in this State,” he said. “I’m sure it wasn’t a conscious act but you were effectively driving your vehicle in a dangerous way” he told Grillot. “For half a kilometre every road user coming the other way was at risk”. He sentenced him to 14 months imprisonment to be eligible for parole after seven months. He was disqualified from driving for two years and four months.