Adelaide nurse Lily Galbraith killed in crash on way to wedding with best friend Emma McLean
New details have emerged about the double fatal crash that killed Adelaide nurse Lily Galbraith and left her best friend Emma McLean fighting for life in hospital.
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In a scene familiar to many 20-somethings navigating the milestones of young adulthood, two best friends were on a roadtrip to a wedding in Queensland when one woman’s life was tragically cut short.
Lily Galbraith, 24, a beloved nurse at Flinders Private Hospital, and Emma McLean, 23, a recently-engaged uni student also living in Adelaide, had a joyous celebration ahead of them when a car driven by a former cop ploughed into their vehicle inside the Legacy Way tunnel.
Witnesses say the black Audi S3 driven by Bruce Daley, 56, was travelling so fast nearby cars were shaking.
Ms Galbraith, originally from Darwin, was pronounced dead at the scene, while Ms McLean — who was driving — remains fighting for life in hospital.
Mr Daley also died at the scene, while another driver – a 45-year-old man – was taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
Phone call before collision
Moments before Mr Daley’s death, he had been in contact with his new girlfriend of one year, 7News reports.
Mr Daley’s partner is currently in Thailand, with her daughter revealing she is “heartbroken” over the 56-year-old’s death.
“She was on the phone to him right before the crash,” she said.
The young woman, who did not want to be identified, described their unision as “happy” with some “ups and downs”.
“He treated my mum like, I wouldn’t say a princess, but he gave her whatever she wanted,” she said.
“Not in a bad way but, like, he wanted to help her. Because my mum, she did struggle with money and work and everything, money in general.”
‘Very confronting’
Ms Galbraith and Ms McLean were travelling together in a silver sedan through the tunnel which links the Western Freeway at Toowong in the city’s west with the inner-north, when a black Audi reportedly doing 200km/h smashed into them at about 3pm.
The impact sent their car colliding into a small truck, according to police.
Witnesses have described how Mr Daley stopped his car at the city-bound Mt Coot-tha tunnel entrance at 3.10pm on Wednesday, causing cars to drive around him, before he passed them moments later, engine roaring.
“(The driver) didn’t indicate or put hazards on … I indicated around him and kept going … a few people beeped at him,” one shaken-up witness told The Courier-Mail.
“I went past slowly … he was just sitting there in the car.”
The witness was on the drive home from work chatting to his brother on the phone.
“This car was flying, he went past me and my brother could actually hear it through the hands-free … my car shook,” he said.
“About 80m in front of me is where the impact happened. I told my brother ‘I have to get off the phone’ and jumped out.
“All you could see was the smoke and debris everywhere.”
Shocking photographs from the scene show the black Audi crumpled against the wall of the tunnel, with the exhaust pipe laying flat on the road.
Queensland police Regional Duty Officer Acting Inspector Stephen Crabbe said the crash was “extensive” and spread out for “several hundred metres” with firefighters required to cut people out of vehicles after emergency services struggled to attend the scene amid traffic congestion.
Detective Acting Inspector Chris Hansel later described the scene as “very confronting” for first responders and members of the public.
Emma McLean in a critical condition
Ms McLean underwent emergency surgery at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital for critical injuries on Wednesday evening.
Ms McLean, 23, was engaged to her boyfriend, Harry, just three weeks ago, sharing a touching video of the proposal with the caption: “You and me forever”.
Beneath the engagement announcement on Facebook, Ms Galbraith had written: “The best news.”
The pair have been together for more than five years.
Ms McLean’s social media is dotted with images of Ms Galbraith, with the pair often pictured together at parties surrounded by friends.
A birthday post from Ms Galbraith to Ms McLean in 2016 reads: “Happy birthday to the most stunning human being inside and out!! You are such an amazing girl with so many gifts and talents! Love you so so so much and am so thankful you are apart of my life! Hope your first day of being 16 is a good one xxx love ya girl.”
Tributes pour in for young nurse
The Nurses and Midwives Memorial Page Australia paid tribute to Ms Galbraith on Thursday.
“Rest in peace, Lily. Thank you for your service. Condolences to your family, friends and colleagues,” the post read.
“All the very best for Emma and sending love to her family as they wait to see how her progress is.
“We are also thinking of the bride, groom and any wedding guests also mourning.”
Queensland Premier Steven Miles said: “My thoughts are with families of those affected – it’s an awful, awful crash.”
Who is Bruce Daley
Former police officer Bruce Daley was medically retired from the Queensland Police Service in December 2014, had posted online about relationship struggles, loneliness and even suicide over a number of years.
Asked on Thursday whether Mr Daley’s mental health would form part of the investigation, Detective Acting Inspector Chris Hansel didn’t want to “go into specifics”.
Asked whether self-harm was being investigated, Inspector Hansel said he was “unable to comment”.
“I’m unable to comment on exact scenarios at this stage as you would appreciate it is a very complex investigation, a very confronting scene that was experienced by our first responders and members of the public last night. It would be again irresponsible for me to nominate a specific scenario without the full investigation having been undertaken.”
He said the investigation was not a criminal one, but would be conducted by forensic crash investigators who would hand their findings to the coroner.
Insp Hansel said speed would be a focus in the investigation, which was expected to take at least several months.
“What I can say is that speed is obviously being considered as a contributing factor, but a lot of other factors are also being considered,” he said.
Police are appealing for witnesses who had not spoken to officers to come forward.
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