Youth found not guilty of dangerous driving – but is guilty of driving without due care in Mount Gambier fatal crash
A judge’s reasons for finding a killer driver not guilty of dangerous driving have been revealed, with the victim’s family labelling the verdict as a “another slap in the face”.
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A judge said she accepted evidence that the boy who killed three people in a horror crash had moved back to the correct side of the road at the time of impact, a published judgment has revealed.
In the Adelaide Youth Court on Friday, Judge Penny Eldridge said she found the boy not guilty of three counts of causing death and four counts of causing harm by dangerous driving.
However, she found him guilty of lesser charges, including five aggravated counts of driving without due care, causing death and serious harm in the first four counts and driving without due care for the remaining three counts.
The 17-year-old, whose identity is suppressed by law, stood trial last month after pleading not guilty to the charges.
Ned and Nan Walker, and their daughter Sue Skeer, died in the head-on crash on the Princes Highway at Suttontown, near Mount Gambier, on November 28, 2020.
In her published judgment, Judge Eldridge said it was clear the boy momentarily lost concentration, moved briefly to the incorrect side of the road and the consequences were “catastrophic”.
However, she said she accepted the evidence of mechanical engineer Christopher Hall that the boy had corrected his position and moved to the correct side of the road before the impact.
“Tragically, in an effort to avoid the Toyota Land Cruiser, the driver of the Ford Territory had moved to the incorrect side of the road,” she said.
Judge Eldridge said after carefully considering all the evidence, she determined that the prosecution had failed to establish beyond reasonable doubt that the boy’s driving was dangerous.
“It is well accepted that driving without due care is a fact of everyday life for every road user and that drivers will momentarily become distracted or commit other driving errors,” she said.
“Apart from the momentary lapse in concentration, there are no other aspects of poor driving.”
Outside court, Jacqui Verbena and Kerri-Lee Bromley, who lost their sister and parents in the crash, said the verdict felt like a “kick in the guts” and called for the court system to be looked at.
“Things have to change, you just can’t put families through this – I feel like my heart’s been ripped out,” Ms Verbena said. “It’s gut-wrenching, it’s really gut-wrenching.
“I know he’s been found guilty but not on the charge he should have been. It’s like another slap in the face to us.”
Ms Bromley said it was little consolation the boy had been found guilty on lesser charges.
“It tears your heart out every time you have to sit through this,” she said.
“That boy got to go home to his family – we didn’t, we lost ours. It’s not fair. We want to see our parents and sister.
“We go to the cemetery, he can go home and cuddle his mum, his dad.”
Ms Bromley said the family were supporting each other in the wake of the disappointing news.
During the boy’s Youth Court trial in Mount Gambier, prosecutor Aimee Winra said the boy was driving a Toyota LandCruiser on the incorrect side of the road when it collided with a Ford Territory driven by Ms Walker.
The court heard allegations he was thinking about school, not the road, just before the crash and had “zoned out”.
It also heard he stopped taking his ADHD medication, without his doctor’s knowledge, months before the crash.
Crash reconstructionist David Kuchenmeister, told the court he formed the opinion it was the boy’s car that veered on to the incorrect side of the road and caused the crash.
However, Mr Hall said he ran simulations more than 100 times and determined that the boy’s car was “pretty much fully” on its correct side of the road at the time of impact.
In closing submissions, Bill Boucaut QC, for the teenager, said his client did not deny there had been “a devastating, tragic loss of lives”, nor that he had driven without due care.
When asked outside court if he was happy with the verdict Mr Boucaut replied “nobody’s a winner in a case like this”.
The boy will face sentencing submissions in Mount Gambier in September.
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