31-year-old Indian national, Patrick Mattu, who worked as a dentist in Bairnsdale, Victoria was sentenced to a two and a half years in jail on Thursday.
He was found guilty of dangerous driving on Wednesday at the Latrobe Valley County Court.
On October 7, 2015, Mattu was returning to Bairnsdale with his wife and friend from Melbourne when the car he was driving veered onto the wrong side of the road and killed an off-duty police officer, Kate McLeod, reported.
Mattu was driving a borrowed car and had barely slept the previous 24 hours and an expert witness told the court that he probably fell into a micro sleep just moments before the crash.
Mattu who worked as a dentist first pleaded not guilty but later pleaded guilty to dangerous driving.
Ms McLeod’s sister Margaret Doyle in a statement before the court said that she had forgiven Mattu.
"This terrible accident has changed all our lives, but it has also changed the defendant's," Ms Doyle .
"It's hard to forgive but I'd like the defendant to know that we forgive him and hope that he can rebuild his life."
Ms McLeod’s partner, Lisa Verhaegh, told the court in her victim impact statement that "My life changed forever in an instant."
"I acknowledge his life also changed in an instant, but he still has a life."
Mattu’s parents and his pregnant wife were present when the court delivered its verdict.
reported that during the sentencing, Judge John Smallwood said, "There was no alcohol, no speed, he thought he was all right, but he wasn't.
"In terms of moral culpability, there's a lot worse."
‘I anticipate you will fear your own deportation, on the face of it, a deportation order will be mandatory.’
Mattu is likely to be deported after he is released from prison. He will be eligible for parole in May 2018.
The Judge said that if Mattu wanted to stay in Australia, he would have to fight his deportation.
