Michael Frank Knowles, guilty of murdering two people in car crash, hears from victims

THE Supreme Court has jailed a killer driver for 23 years just hours after two survivors spoke harrowingly of the pain and anguish of losing their best mates to his selfish actions.

• Road crash victim’s last words to her mum
• Whyalla man found guilty of murder

THE first South Australian convicted of using a vehicle to commit murder has been jailed for at least 23 years — just hours after he sat with his eyes closed through almost two hours of harrowing statements from his victims’ friends and families.

Michael Frank Knowles refused to open his eyes in the dock of the Port Augusta Supreme Court before he was sentenced for the murders of James Moore and Natasha Turnbull.

The pair died instantly when he drove his 4WD head-on into their vehicle on the Lincoln Hwy near Whyalla in the early hours of December 29, 2014.

Knowles was on Monday found guilty of the murders of Mr Moore and Ms Turnbull, both 24, after earlier pleading guilty to aggravated causing serious harm by dangerous driving to their friends Jason Bristow and Amy Jones, who both survived the crash.

Many people wept openly in the packed courtroom as 24 victim impact statements were read to the court, including one by Ms Turnbull’s devastated father, Kieren.

Mr Turnbull told Knowles that he had stolen the lives of two beautiful young souls who had been close friends since primary school, and had spent the afternoon before their deaths searching for fossils with Mr Bristow and Ms Jones at Coffin Bay.

Natasha Turnbull’s parents Kieren Turnbull and Michelle Cholodniuk at Port Augusta Courthouse after sentencing submissions for Michael Frank Knowles. Photo: Naomi Jellicoe.

“I feel useless, lost, without direction, angry and full of vengeance ... I dream of spending time with you Mr Knowles, just the two of us,” Mr Turnbull said.

“I think of the wonderful young people that you killed or mutilated for life, and for nothing but your own selfish and narcissistic needs.”

Knowles, who pleaded not guilty to the murders, had repeatedly threatened to take his own life by driving into a truck.

He sent numerous Facebook messages to his estranged partner in the hours before the crash saying he was going to commit suicide.

Mr Turnbull said he and his family could never forgive Knowles, who was sporting a large surgical patch on his forehead and entered the dock with the use of a single crutch.

“Never think to look to me for forgiveness, because I can assure you it will never come,” Mr Turnbull said.

“I hope whatever you have left as a soul, truly haunts you for the rest of your life ... it haunts my days and it haunts my nights.”

Natasha Turnbull, 24, was killed in the crash on the Lincoln Hwy, near Whyalla.

James Moore, 24, was driving the car Michael Frank Knowles drove deliberately into.

Ms Turnbull’s mother, Michelle Cholodniuk, told the court of the moments she realised something was wrong, when a series of text messages between herself and her “best friend and daughter” abruptly stopped.

Ms Cholodniuk said her daughter was always helping others.

She “was brave and stood up for those who could not stand up for themselves”.

“I was often told that she was a pure angel,” Ms Cholodniuk said.

“People loved Natasha and often people who had just met her would be taken aback by how full of love she was.”

The court heard “Tash” worked three jobs in Whyalla, had planned to earn a university degree in social work and donated money to various charities from a young age.

Ms Cholodniuk said Natasha’s death had left her “lost, alone, confused and broken”.

“We would talk about everything and think the same, sometimes we would even finish each other’s sentences off,” she said.

“What has occurred is a lifelong sentence for me and my family ... I can only hope that I will be with her again one day.”

James Moore, Amy Jones, Jason Bristow and Natasha Turnbull in a photo taken at Coffin Bay on the day when Michael Knowles ran into to their 4WD on the Lincoln Highway.

Amy Jones, who sustained critical injuries which required surgery in Royal Adelaide Hospital, told Knowles his cruel actions had ruined her life and dozens of others.

“How can one human have such disdain and disrespect for other human beings that they could allow themselves to behave in such a way?,” Ms Jones asked.

“This has shown me the cruel nature in the pits of some people’s souls ... you have ruined my life and I am glad your actions have been called for exactly what they were.”

Ms Jones described Knowles as a “sick-minded atrocity of a human being”.

She told how she needed to relearn basic skills such as writing and walking in the months after the crash.

The aftermath had left her physically and psychologically scarred as well as bearing the financial cost of being unable to return to work.

“But I would give every cent I have or ever will have, if I could just have my beautiful friends James and Tash back,” Ms Jones said.

Crash survivor Jason Bristow, who was sleeping in the front passenger seat at the time of impact, said he had been best mates with Mr Moore and close friends with Ms Turnbull since primary school.

“It has been said that where there was one, there was the other,” he said of James’ and his friendship.

“We were best mates since we were 10 and Tash was like a sister to me,

“Two of my best friends are now gone, I would spend hours talking to James and Tash each week, and now I am lost.”

Mr Moore’s older sister Lesley told the court of the anguish at losing her “baby brother”, who was driving responsibly when Knowles drove head-on into his Mitsubishi Pajero, about 17km from their destination of Whyalla.

“I think of the terror and confusion of seeing your vehicle coming towards him into his path and very likely knowing in those last few seconds that his time on earth was coming to an end,” Ms Moore said.

“The fact that James died instantly is cold comfort to me, and like my father, you will get no sympathy from me.”

James’ mother, Carrol Moore, spoke of her son’s love of life and his passion for palaeontology, which he was studying at Flinders University in Adelaide.

“You, Michael Knowles, robbed us of our precious son and you robbed him of his life,” Mrs Moore said.

“The fact that I didn’t get to hold my son or see him for days after the crash will haunt me for the rest of my life. I am heartbroken that I will never get to see James get married or have children.”

His father, Rod Moore, was too distraught to stand and read his statement, which was read by prosecutor Mark Norman SC.

“James had a special knack of making those around him feel special, especially his mother,” Mr Moore’s statement said.

“Every time I try to have a conversation involving James, I have waves of sadness come over me because of the inescapable fact that he is dead.”

Several of Ms Turnbull’s close friends, including Tzara Spargo, also stood to tell Knowles of the devastation he had wrought upon them and the entire Whyalla community.

“What gave you the right to make the decision that was the epitome of selfishness? Where was their choice in the matter? They didn’t choose to die,” Ms Spargo said.

“And for what? For nothing. They are dead for an unfathomable reason that was nothing.”

Another friend, Elizabeth Golebiowski, said Natasha had taken her in as a best friend and surrogate sister as teenagers.

“You might have murdered her, but that doesn’t make her any less of my best friend,” Ms Golebiowski told Knowles.

Justice Trish Kelly jailed Knowles for the mandatory life prison term for murder, with a non-parole period of 23 years on Tuesday afternoon.

Justice Kelly said while she accepted Knowles was depressed and had “reasonable” prospects of rehabilitation upon his release, he had committed a “grave crime” that could have killed four young people.

“The damage your actions have caused has been incalculable,” Justice Kelly said.

“The ripple effect of your actions in the close-knit community will be felt for the rest of their lives.”