Drunkard Michael Frank Knowles got annoyed with his girlfriend so he killed two people

AS FOUR best mates beamed in what would be a final “selfie” to end a perfect summer’s day, Michael Frank Knowles was stewing in a pathetic self-pity that would hours later unravel into a murderous rage.

Michael Frank Knowles has been charged with two counts of murder over a crash near Whyalla in December 2014 that claimed the lives of Natasha Turnbull, 24, and James Moore, 24. Source : Facebook

• Michael Frank Knowles guilty of murdering two people in car crash
• Accused murderer Michael Knowles ‘abused witnesses’

AS FOUR best mates beamed in what would be a final “selfie” to end a perfect summer’s day, Michael Frank Knowles was stewing in a pathetic self-pity that would hours later unravel into a murderous rage.

The afternoon of Sunday, December 28, 2014, was a postcard moment for budding palaeontologist James Moore and three of his best mates — Jason Bristow, Natasha “Tash” Turnbull and Amy Jones.

James, 24, was studying palaeontology at Flinders University and his friends had agreed to accompany him on a day trip to Coffin Bay, near Port Lincoln.

It was a “recce” visit to work out logistics for an impending field trip in which he hoped to find the remains of the sthenurine kangaroo, an extinct species whose fossils had not been found for more than a century.

After scoping out the area, James, Tash, Jason and Amy enjoyed a barbecue on the beach before having pizza for dinner as dusk settled. They then began their fateful trip home to Whyalla.

About half an hour after midnight, and agonisingly close to home, the young friends crossed the path of a suicidal and homicidal Michael Knowles.

Then 36, he was hardly a bloke destined to create history.

Yet this week he did that in the most grotesque fashion, becoming the first person in South Australia to be convicted of murder involving a road crash.

HEAD-ON: The Nissan Patrol driven by Michael Knowles which slammed into a Mitsubishi Pajero, on the Lincoln Hwy near Whyalla, killing James Moore and Natasha Turnbull. Picture: Stephen Laffer

Knowles’ life had been spiralling downwards for months, if not his entire adult life.

He drank too much, soaking up his annual leave at Transpacific Industries in the months before December 2014 because he knew he would fail the mandatory alcohol test to clock on in the morning.

He fell into between $40,000 and $45,000 debt, and would get blind drunk and talk about his brother who died in a car crash in the 1990s — so he knew the torment left behind by road deaths.

His relationship with his girlfriend, Teri Gelligan, had soured because of his continual “manipulative and childish” antics.

Knowles repeatedly told Ms Gelligan he would “neck himself”, chillingly predicting he would carry out the deed by ploughing head-on into a truck.

Sixteen days before he tried to take his own life but instead murdered two people and maimed two more, Knowles sent Ms Gelligan a photo of his wrist, which he had cut in an apparent cry for help.

She wasn’t impressed, and as a medically trained woman, knew Knowles’ “suicide attempt” wasn’t going to fulfil its supposed purpose any more than the pathetic attempt at winning back her affections.

SO TRAGIC: James Moore (left) with Jason Bristow, Amy Jones and Natasha Turnbull (right) at Coffin Bay just a few hours before their car was hit by Michael Knowles.

Despite this, Ms Gelligan would tell the court that she still cared for Knowles and was worried about his mental health.

Around noon on Sunday, December 28, Knowles drove to Ms Gelligan’s home and again tried to convince her to take him back. When she told him she only wanted to remain friends, he reverted to his usual petulance, storming off in anger.

At 9.04pm, after a long drinking session, “Mick Knowlesy” took to Facebook with the status: “Time to play”.

By 10pm, his Nissan rumbled its way around to Ms Gelligan’s home again. She wanted him to stay in a spare room, but he stormed off again.

Knowles returned briefly and told Ms Gelligan “I want one last hug before I go and do this” before driving into the night.

She phoned local police and told them she feared Knowles would hurt himself or others, but no patrols came across his path that night.

At 11.06pm, Knowles went back to Facebook with another morbid status update: “I’m done and I feel so ashamed I’m doing it like this — my only request is that Teri Gelligan doesn’t come to my funeral cause she lied to me.”

At 11.22pm, he wrote: “The pain ends now.” At 11.39pm, Ms Gelligan sent Knowles a text, saying “So you give up cos it got a little tough. Nice one”, before turning her phone off.

Knowles, his anger galloping furiously along with his drunkenness, responded three minutes later with: “Ha ha f**k you — always there for you — always there for me — ha joke — I’m not backing down now, have a good life.”

The goateed darts player had already stated he would carry out his final act of petulance by driving head-on into a truck — not a wall, not a Stobie pole or a tree.

Natasha Turnbull at a fancy dress party.

James Moore must have been looking forward to stretching his legs as he steered his blue Mitsubishi Pajero along the Lincoln Hwy, less than 18km from Whyalla around 12.30am.

His sister, Lesley Moore, this week said she was haunted by the terror James must have felt as he realised the approaching headlights were coming straight for him.

The driver’s side of the Pajero bore the brunt of the sickening collision, killing James and Tash instantly.

A dozing Jason Bristow was initially unsure what had happened, but knew something was terribly wrong.

When the first people arrived at the scene, they believed Knowles’ vehicle was the only one involved. They couldn’t see James’s Pajero, which ended up off the road.

Witnesses said the air reeked of fuel and alcohol fumes from a clearly drunk Knowles, who rolled around the roadside with his pants down abusing those trying to help him.

He was taken to hospital, injured but in better shape than his innocent victims, with police saying charges were likely. Word quickly spread around Whyalla on Monday morning that there had been a terrible crash.

James and Tash were dead, Jason was badly injured and Amy had been flown to Royal Adelaide Hospital, her fate hanging in the balance.

Shock and grief soon turned to dumbstruck anger and disbelief at the horrid realisation that this might have been no accident.

Knowles lacked the nous to set his Facebook page to private. Or maybe he wanted the world to see his indignant final piques of rage.

Major Crash detectives soon saw the grim messages, and Knowles was charged with two counts of manslaughter and two counts of acts to endanger the lives of Ms Jones and Mr Bristow.

The Director of Public Prosecutions would later upgrade the charges to murder, given that to be convicted of murder one must reasonably foresee a danger of causing serious harm, not necessarily death.

At trial, prosecutor Mark Norman SC told the jury there could be no doubt Knowles’ act was deliberate.

Knowles offered to plead guilty to the lesser charges of causing death by dangerous driving, but prosecutors pressed ahead with the murder charge which, if proven, would be a legal first in SA.

The jury sat through five days of evidence before retiring to consider its verdict on Monday afternoon, returning less than three hours to unanimously condemn Knowles to a mandatory life prison term.

Justice Trish Kelly, a firm believer in the maxim that justice delayed is justice denied, set down sentencing submissions for the following morning — finally giving the surviving victims and their loved ones the chance to confront Knowles.

James’s mother, Carrol, recalled desperately wanting her “big baby” to return to Whyalla for good one day.

“But not in a million years did I think it would be to bury him,” she wept. Father Rod’s statement, read by Mr Norman, spoke of being unable to speak about his son aloud without breaking down, and his battle to support his wife and family while dealing with his own unimaginable grief.

Flinders University has honoured James’s memory by establishing the James Moore Memorial Scholarship, which allows a rural high school student to each year pursue their ambitions by working in a palaeontology laboratory and taking part in an expedition.

Both James’s and Tash’s families were intensely proud of their kids, which intensified the cloud of grief that enveloped the Port Augusta courtroom on Tuesday morning as 24 individual victim’s statements were read.

They spoke of Tash being “a rare gem of a kid” who stood up for her vulnerable classmates and always had left-field advice that seemed to make any problem better. She was adored by her young nieces and those who knew her well were sure she would one day be a doting mum. But Knowles robbed her of that chance.

Tash’s mother, Michelle Cholodniuk, told of her sixth sense that something was wrong when a series of text messages between them end­ed after her daughter told her they were 37km from home.

“I ran to my husband to tell him something was wrong. I wanted to get in the car to go to her,” Ms Cholodniuk recalled.

Instead, when police mistakenly went to a neighbour’s home in the early hours, she knew they were meant to be at her house and why.

Mr Turnbull spoke of his wife wailing and crying out for “my baby” after officers told them the worst.

Ms Cholodniuk said she had not slept or eaten properly since and when she did sleep, with Tash’s clothes under her pillow, often woke screaming.

“I keep waiting for Natasha to walk through the door and hug me or tell me she is OK; every day I watch the door waiting,” she said.

In a heart-wrenching victim impact statement vented at a dispassionate Knowles, Tash’s aunt, Maggie Kamin, spoke of Knowles’ cowardice.

“Had you used a different weapon to kill her, she would have fought you,” Ms Kamin said. “She would have fought you because she had so much to live for. But you stole that choice from her.”

Ms Kamin’s condemnation and the desperate sobbing of other grieving friends and family as they somehow finished their statements were not enough for Knowles to open his eyes, even once. For two hours, he refused to open them and look at those whom he had caused so much heartache. His eyes only opened briefly when his lawyer, Phil Crowe, rose to offer the briefest of submissions on his behalf.

Perhaps Knowles hoped to hear a word or two sticking up for him. If he was, he was the only person in the room expecting any kind of salvation — and it did not come.

Kieran Turnbull, Tash’s father, encapsulated the sentiment of most who packed the courtroom to hear victim impact statements and Justice Trish Kelly’s sentencing.

“I know my words fall on deaf ears; nevertheless it does not make them worthless,” he said to Knowles.

Mr Turnbull, who taught his young daughter judo to boost her confidence, said he hoped Knowles would one day realise the catastrophic harm he had wrought upon so many people.

“But never think or look to me for forgiveness … you have broken everything that is sacrosanct to being human. You have hurt and murdered the truly innocent, and I hope whatever you have as a soul truly haunts you for the rest of your life,” he said.

Like the jury, which took little time to unanimously convict Knowles of two counts of murder, Justice Kelly was swift to impose sentence. Even Knowles’ legal counsel conceded there were no special circumstances that could see him fall below the usual 20-year non-parole period.

Justice Kelly’s remarks were brief. She saw no point in rehashing the horror of the crash — everyone in the court knew the details only too well.

Knowles will be approaching 60 when he is eligible to apply for release on parole. He has nothing to look forward to except years to wallow in his own self-pity.

But for most in Whyalla, Knowles’ long prison term pales against the life sentence he delivered to the community, and the friends and family of James Moore and Tash Turnbull.