Advertiser journalist and former deputy editor Ben Hyde has stared down the speeding, drugged driver Luigi Gligora who almost killed him
Oliver is just 7 but told the speeding, drug-addled driver who nearly killed his dad – top Advertiser journalist Ben Hyde – how much the 170km/h crash had impacted their lives.
Police & Courts
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The 7-year-old son of Advertiser journalist Ben Hyde has told the drugged driver Luigi Gligora who crashed into his dad at high-speed and almost killed him just how much the horror crash has impacted their lives.
In a statement read to the court, Oliver, now 7, has a message that was poignantly succinct.
“I hope you stay in jail for a really long time because that’s what you deserve,” he said.
“Do not do this again and hurt somebody else – you are a bad man, Luigi.”
His dad has been driving home from work on October 4 2021 when he was hit by Gligora, who was travelling 170km/h in a 60km/h zone.
“You did everything you could to kill me that night,” Mr Hyde told the court.
He said the sole mercy he received from Gligora was that the impact of the crash stole his memory of the fight to save his life.
His loving family, he said, were not afforded such respite.
“I was thankfully oblivious to the extreme trauma around the crash itself,” Mr Hyde, who was The Advertiser’s Deputy Editor at the time of the incident, said on Monday.
“But I’ll never be able to forgive you for the trauma and uncertainty you inflicted upon my loved ones.
“You should get absolutely zero credit for my dogged determination to recover, or the amazing support network I’ve had around me, (without) all of whom I wouldn’t be where I am today.
“I hope hearing (this) today is as hard for you as it is for me and my loved ones … I and we didn’t deserve this – and you could have easily prevented it.”
Mr Hyde’s wife, Tania, told Gligora she watched her husband “calling out in absolute agony” as his “broken body” with its “horrendous burns” was rushed into ICU.
“I am the person who sat in the ICU while he was in a coma, waiting for him to return to us … listening to his prognosis, his list of injuries you inflicted upon him,” she said.
“I am the person who had to tell my children why their dad wasn’t home, who watched their innocence disappear in an instant … this shattered them, they now know bad guys exist.
“I am the one who has been by Ben’s side through the gruelling rehabilitation he’s needed … who has seen him push himself so hard it’s almost broken him.
“I am the person now diagnosed with PTSD and mood disorder as a result of this crime … I have nightmares or I’m utterly drained from filling in the gaps you have left our family with.
“I will never forgive you for the toll your crime has taken on our family … this isn’t going away for us, we all live and breathe it daily … we can’t escape it.
“Luigi, what you have done to our family has been absolutely devastating, it’s cruel, it’s selfish and it’s just pure evil … there needs to be punishment for this crime.”
Gligora, 47, of Northfield, pleaded guilty to one aggravated count of causing serious harm by dangerous driving over the crash on West Tce on October 4, 2021.
With prescription medication and cannabis in his system, he drove away from an SA Police traffic stop and reached speeds in excess of 170km/h before colliding with Mr Hyde, who was headed home from work.
Gligora initially flagged raising a mental incompetence defence.
In court on Monday, Mr Hyde said that was offensive to people “who are legitimately afflicted by mental health”.
“It turns out the pursuit of that defence served zero purpose other than to seriously prolong the trauma suffered by myself and my loved ones,” he said.
“You had the option of pleading guilty earlier and owning your actions, but you didn’t.”
He said the traumatic brain injury he sustained had negatively impacted his cognitive function and “placed an immovable roadblock” in front of his professional dreams.
“No longer being able to do all the things with and for the people I love has often left me feeling like a failure and a burden,” he said.
“I know I should not feel like that, for it was not my fault, but I do at times.”
Mrs Hyde urged Gligora to learn from her husband’s example and “be inspired by him to make your life better for you and the people around you”.
“I want you to work as hard as my husband has at getting his life back on track,” she said.
Mr Hyde’s father, Philip, told Gligora he was “nothing” while his mother, Cathy Sheldrick, said she hated the trauma, pain and unbearable thoughts he had caused her family.
“So Luigi, do I hate you for what you did? I will leave that question for you to ponder,” she said.
His in-laws, Anthony and Pia Lapidge, said they could forgive Gligora but never forget his actions nor his attitude, asking he “get a grip before you ruin someone else’s life”.
Advertiser editor Gemma Jones said Mr Hyde was “the heart of the newsroom”, and that Gligora’s “criminal night of madness” stole a future editor’s job from the “rising star”.
“Anyone can see Ben’s scars … but you can’t see his brain injury … I very much hope that the profound damage to what can’t be seen will not go unpunished by this court,” she said.
Former editor Matt Deighton said “one unforgivable moment of stupidity and selfishness” had robbed “the best person I have worked with”, and his family, of far too much.
“It’s not up to me to say whether you can be forgiven … but I do hope you really, really think about what you have stolen from Ben and his family … (it) can never, ever be replaced,” he said.
Gligora read an apology to Mr Hyde, his family and the court from the dock.
He said his two biggest regrets in life were harming “an innocent bystander” and “not pleading guilty from the start”.
“I’m truly remorseful and distressed for the harm I’ve caused … I had no intention to cause harm to anyone but myself,” he said.
“I will live with these regrets for the rest of my life … I cannot express enough how truly sorry I am for what happened that day.”
He said he took full responsibility for his actions, which he did not remember, but asked for “understanding and compassion considering the lead-up to the accident”.
Craig Caldicott, for Gligora, said his client had been affected by a “self-induced and drug-induced psychosis” at the time.
Gligora had been, he said, exhibiting signs of paranoia from “taking too much” of the prescription medication duramine whose effects, in excess, are similar to methylamphetamine.
Mr Caldicott said Gligora, who was also injured in the crash, later told a psychologist he had wanted to “drive somewhere and drive off a cliff” that night.
“We do not know if he was attempting suicide or not, it was clear he was acting psychotically,” he said.
“That is not a mitigating factor, it’s an explanation … why he drove in the manner he did is of some significance (in sentencing).”
He said Gligora – whose brother was killed in a 1994 car crash – should receive “as much mercy as possible” and either a suspended or home detention sentence, so he could care for his elderly mother and disabled daughter.
Tracy Nelson, prosecuting, said nothing short of immediate jail was appropriate because Gligora’s driving had been “dangerous to all road users”.
Judge Nick Alexandrides said he had “not come to any conclusions” about sentence but would order a home detention suitability report.
He remanded Gligora on continuing bail for sentencing on a date to be set.
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