Roderick Nigel Martin was in a drug-induced psychosis when he stole a 16-tonne tip truck from Bacchus Marsh, west of Melbourne, on July 19, 2003.

After driving on the wrong side of the Western Hwy he slammed into Raymond Turner's Mitsibishi Magna, killing the 66-year-old instantly at Windermere.

At his trial, Martin, then 36, was said to have been suffering drug-induced delusions and hallucinations at the time of the crash and believed aliens had taken over the world.

He was acquitted of murdering Mr Turner in June 2005 but later found guilty of manslaughter, charges of reckless conduct endangering life and theft by a Victorian Supreme Court jury and sentenced to 14 years' jail with a non-

parole period of 10 years.

In March this year, he lodged an appeal against the severity of his sentence and yesterday, the Court of Appeal quashed his original sentence and imposed a new period of 11 years' imprisonment with a minimum of eight years.

In a written judgment, Court of Appeal justices Chris Maxwell, Geoffrey Nettle and Robert Redlich said they took into account Martin's remorse and early offer to plead guilty to manslaughter.

Martin's barrister Michael O'Connell told the trial the facts of the case were not in dispute.

But his client's mind was not functioning in the way that a normal mind would, he said.

He was resentenced to 11 years' jail and ordered to serve at least eight years before being eligible for parole.

The appeal justices said they also took into account the 1618 days that Martin had already served.