Mother of truck driver Jatinder Brar killed in crash with stolen car to be kept ‘insulated’ from tragic news

Friends and family of an Indian man killed in a crash with a stolen car have vowed to keep his mother insulated from the news of her son’s death as they mourned the loss of the young man.

The late Jatinder Singh Brar (top left) with friends Mandeep (top right) Ranjit (bottom left) and cousin Saman Ghuman (bottom right). Picture: Supplied.

Friends and family of a truck driver killed in a crash with a stolen car have vowed to keep his mother insulated from the news of her son’s death until his body can be returned to India.

Jatinder Singh Brar, 25, died on Friday just after noon after his truck was clipped by a speeding stolen car and sent crashing into a tree on the side of Kings Rd in Salisbury South.

On Saturday, less than 24 hours after the crash, friends of Mr Brar gathered in his humble living room in Salisbury to remember the ambitious young man whose dreams will never be fulfilled.

Investigators at the scene of the tragedy on Friday at Salisbury South. Picture: Bianca De Marchi

Members of the group were forced to make the difficult call to Mr Brar’s home village of Surghuri in India’s Punjab region to alert his mother to the crash.

However, with weeks of formalities before the body can be returned, including identifying the body and a post-mortem examination, Brar family friend Aman Dhillon said they had not told Mr Brar’s mother her son had died in the crash.

“We have told her that he was in a crash and was not able to talk,” Mr Dhillon said.

“It is going to be really hard for her so she is with her sister. The news has already made it to the village and is in the Indian media so she is insulated at the moment until we can get his body sent home.”

Jatinder Singh Brar at his graduation from Flinders University last month. Picture: Supplied.

Mr Dhillon said he expected the process to last several weeks and to cost as much as $20,000.

Mr Brar’s cousin Saman Ghuman said the part time delivery driver had “big dreams”.

“He took every opportunity,” Mr Ghuman said.

“He did as much as he could possibly do and he did it in the right way. He kept a clean record and did everything right.

“Then to get run off the road by this woman who hasn’t done anything to keep a clean record, it’s hard to understand.

“It is really sad for us.”

Mr Brar’s father died only weeks before he left for Australia in December 2012 bound for Adelaide and Flinders University.

“He was a hard worker and a good student,” Mr Dhillon said.

“It is hard to find a balance between working and studying but he managed to do it.

“He also loved playing cricket and going out, just enjoying the things that young people do.”

Mr Brar finished his Masters of Accounting four months ago and graduated in mid-December,

He spent Christmas with his friends in Victor Harbor and rang in the new year playing cricket and enjoying a barbecue.

The woman who was behind the wheel of the stolen car sped away from the crash and was arrested in Taperoo after abandoning the car on Belfast St.

The car had been stolen on December 28, 2018 from a Golden Grove property.

Police are still investigating whether the vehicle and its driver are connected with a series of “serious offences” over the 24 hours before the crash.

The 25-year-old of no fixed address was charged with causing death by dangerous driving and driving dangerously to escape police pursuit.

She was refused bail and will appear in court next week.

Mr Brar’s friends have set up a fundraiser to help raise funds to repatriate the body back to India and support his mother.

The campaign raised almost $40,000 in 24 hours.