Raphael Steven Woodhouse sentenced for dangerous driving causing death
The man who killed 19-year-old boy in a tragic crash has cried when confronted by the teen’s mum in court. WHAT SHE SAID
A man has cried in the dock when confronted by the mother of the 19-year-old boy he killed last year in a senseless Townsville road collision.
Raphael Steven Woodhouse, 33, was clean shaved and wearing glasses when he appeared in Townsville District Court on Monday, November 10, to be sentenced for one count of dangerous operation of a vehicle causing death and leaving the scene of an accident.
Defence barrister Michael Hibble said the fatal collision occurred with an ‘epidemic’ of vehicle thefts and property offending in Townsville as its backdrop.
“This is not a case where my client has rammed the deceased,” Mr Hibble said.
“My client’s intention – which was absolutely mindlessly stupid – was to stop the deceased to recover the motorcycle.”
The court heard Woodhouse had been driving two friends in his distinctive black Holden Commodore when he was called by a friend, Craig Sproule, and informed someone had stolen Sproule’s motorcycle.
While driving on Dalrymple Rd, Woodhouse saw the ‘stolen’ bike being driven on the nearby Dalrymple Service Rd and went through an intersection and a roundabout, before driving at speed on the wrong side of the road towards the motorcycle.
On the motorcycle was 19-year-old Michael Wehrman.
The court heard witness information which stated Mr Wehrman had visited Sproule’s house that day looking for the man, and took the dirt bike because ‘Sproule had taken it from him’ and he wanted it back.
It was estimated Woodhouse was driving at 80 to 100/km an hour, driving head-on towards the motorcycle rider.
At the last minute, both men swerved to avoid each other but collided in the next lane, the 19-year-old Wehrman impacting the windscreen and driver’s door and becoming airborne.
He was found by bystanders lying on his back, his helmet several meters away, with no pulse, crown prosecutor Monique Shepherd said.
Woodhouse continued to drive on, going through a metal fence and across grass before swerving back onto the road and driving to a Kirwan address where he tried to hide his heavily damaged Commodore in a garage.
Unknown to him, he’d left tyre marks all the way to the house and there was a CCTV camera right above the garage door which police accessed.
Woodhouse tried to flee, driving to Cardwell where he was involved in a car crash, injuring himself, breaking into a home and stealing another vehicle and driving onwards to Innisfail.
Police immediately found him hiding under a blanket between a bed and a wall in Innisfail, and he was taken into custody where he’s remained for 561 days.
The fatal crash occurred on April 23, 2024.
Several members of the late Mr Wehrman’s family attended the sentencing, including his mother Sharon Dell Shepherd.
“That day my son died, it’s like you ripped out my heart,” Sharon Shepherd said in a victim impact statement she delivered in court, in front of Woodhouse.
“It is a constant pain, every single day, it has not stopped since day one.”
“He did naughty things as a teenager, but he wasn’t a violent person, he didn’t fight, he got along with everybody. This non-Indigenous guy walked up to me once and said ‘are you Mikey’s mum?’ and he said to me ‘when I first came to Townsville I was homeless, your son didn’t know me but he took me around to every single house until he got me somewhere to stay’. That was the kind of person my son was.”
Her emotional statement brought Woodhouse to tears.
“I promise you I never, ever meant to cause this much pain,” he said from the dock.
“I am truly, truly, so, so sorry.”
The family asked him directly if he was ‘playing chicken’ on the road that day and deliberately driving at their son.
“No, I promise,” Mr Woodhouse said.
“I didn’t know your son but a lot of people have said he was a good boy. I’m so sorry.”
The court heard the Vanuatu-born Woodhouse has a lengthy criminal history spread across Queensland and the Northern Territory, that involves evading an RBT in Cairns by going onto the wrong side of the road, eight disqualified driving offences, grievous bodily harm from when he injured a man he didn’t know with a metal pole, drug driving, failing to stop, aggravated assault, and possessing trafficable amounts of cannabis and MDMA.
He’d also never held a drivers licence, the court heard.
Judge Ian Dearden said it was clear Mr Wehrman was a “loved, cherished and deeply, deeply missed” man.
“He hit your vehicle and was killed by that collision,” Judge Dearden said.
“Even if he was driving a little bit under the speed limit, the speed at which he hit your car was at a minimum 130 to 140km/h.”
Judge Dearden sentenced Woodhouse to nine and a half years imprisonment, and set a parole date as of October 28, 2028.
People in the court swore at Woodhouse as he was escorted by officers out of the courtroom.
He cannot be imprisoned at Townsville Correctional Centre for safety reasons, and is instead in custody near Brisbane.
Originally published as Raphael Steven Woodhouse sentenced for dangerous driving causing death
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