Alleged killer driver Dhirren Singh Randhawa permitted to contact eyewitness to death of Charlie Stevens ahead of Christmas
The driver who allegedly killed Charlie Stevens has won permission to speak to his friend again – who is an eyewitness to the alleged incident.
SA News
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Alleged killer driver Dhirren Singh Randhawa may now contact the woman who was his passenger the night Charlie Stevens died, after previously being banned from doing so.
On Thursday, the Adelaide Magistrates Court granted Mr Randhawa’s application to vary his bail and remove a clause banning him from contacting Montana Rose Bowd.
That application, brought by Mr Randhawa’s counsel, was not opposed by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Court documents allege Ms Bowd is an eyewitness in the case – one of four people who have given police accounts of the final moments of Charlie’s life.
The other three accounts have been given, according to court documents, by Charlie’s friends.
Mr Randhawa, 18, of Encounter Bay, has yet to plead to causing death by dangerous driving and the lesser, alternative charge of aggravated driving without due care.
He is further charged with leaving the scene of a crash after causing death and failing to truly answer questions.
Prosecutors allege he was the driver of the car that struck and killed Charlie, son of SA Police Commissioner Grant Stevens, on Beach Rd, Goolwa, during Schoolies last month.
Previously, the court heard there are conflicting witness accounts of the incident and, upon granting Mr Randhawa bail, banned him from contacting those four people.
On Thursday, Jane Abbey KC, for Mr Randhawa, asked her client’s bail be varied with regard to that restriction.
“It’s just (removing) one name from the non-contact clause, and I understand that’s by consent (with the prosecution),” she said.
Jim Pearce KC, prosecuting, confirmed that was so.
“It’s to remove the name Montana Rose Bowd and, as that’s all the application requests, there’s no opposition,” he said.
Magistrate Michael Fotheringham granted the application, and remanded Mr Randhawa on his altered bail to face court again next year.
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