Partner witnessed accused killer truck driver Kenneth Laurence Pillar lose consciousness in coughing fit, causing fatal crash
A SECOND person has been charged over a crash that killed a popular Mt Gambier teacher as a court heard the truck driver allegedly responsible had lost consciousness during a coughing fit.
THE partner of a truck driver charged over the crash death of a popular Mt Gambier teacher witnessed him lose consciousness during a coughing fit, a court has heard.
A second person was today charged over the fatal crash on the Swanport Bridge, on the Princes Highway, on June 16.
The Victorian woman, 30, was charged with committing acts to endanger life and was bailed to appear in the Adelaide Magistrates Court in September.
Her arrest came as Kenneth Laurence Pillar, 54, of Camperdown in Victoria, appeared in the Supreme Court today seeking release on bail, which was previously refused in the Adelaide Magistrates Court.
He is yet to plead to a charge of causing death by dangerous driving over the crash which killed Grant High School teacher Maria Dowdell, 61.
Pillar’s semi-trailer crashed into Ms Dowdell’s car on the Swanport Bridge, on the Princes Highway, at 6.20pm on June 16.
Pillar’s lawyer, Scott Henchliffe, today told the court his client may have suffered from a condition known as cough syncope “where people can actually faint as a result of a coughing fit in certain circumstances”.
“It appears that may be one explanation for what tragically occurred,” Mr Henchliffe said.
“Of course, tragically, someone else was coming the other way, he’s run into them.”
Mr Henchliffe said Pillar’s partner of just a few months, Belinda Thornton, was travelling in the truck with Pillar during the trip from Adelaide to Melbourne and back to Melbourne.
“They were driving towards Murray Bridge. It was dark, they were talking about their plans for the future when Pillar suddenly started coughing,” he said.
Mr Henchliffe said Ms Thornton had described what she saw in her statement to police: “He coughed a few times, I think three or four times and then it was like he wasn’t there, he just stopped coughing about half way through a cough.”
“She looked at him and he looked blank,” Mr Henchliffe said.
“She thinks he lost consciousness. She got out of her chair and tried shaking him.
“She saw the (truck) was going across the outside of the road and heard it smash into the guard rail across the other side of the road.”
Mr Henchliffe said it would be easier to investigate the potential medical issue if Pillar was not in custody.
“There is no suggestion of alcohol, drugs, or bad driving and there is a plausible explanation that involved being in a tragic accident ... where he has fainted while driving, unexpectedly.”
Prosecutors opposed Pillar’s release on bail to live in Victoria because they were unsure whether Victorian police could accommodate regular reporting conditions.
Justice Trish Kelly said she was “minded to grant bail” and would impose a condition that he not drive, and report to police weekly.
The case returns to court on Monday.