Police charge Harrison Kitt over Urrbrae crash that killed Chief Superintendent Joanne Shanahan and Tania McNeill
A young driver has been charged with causing death by dangerous driving over a crash at Urrbrae that killed a senior police officer and a beloved mother.
Police & Courts
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- Shattered family of crash driver ‘in depth of despair’
- Tributes and tears flow for decorated officer and vibrant mother
A young driver has been charged over a horror crash that claimed the lives of a decorated senior police officer and a beloved mother.
Major Crash investigators on Sunday arrested Harrison Kitt, 20, and charged him with two aggravated counts of causing death by dangerous driving and one aggravated count of causing harm by dangerous driving over the three-car collision at Urrbrae on April 25.
SA Police Chief Superintendent Joanne Shanahan, 55, and Tania McNeill, 53, were killed in what police said was a high-speed crash at the intersection of Cross Rd and Fullarton Rd.
Kitt, of Urrbrae, who was driving a Volkswagen ute, sustained serious leg injuries in the crash and remains in the Royal Adelaide Hospital, where he is also receiving psychiatric treatment.
He was granted bail and will appear in the Adelaide Magistrates Court in July.
Kitt’s parents, Andy and Kathy Kitt, released a statement on May 1 saying their son’s mental health had deteriorated in the days leading up to the tragedy.
They also said they were heartbroken for the victims’ families and devastated for emergency services crews who witnessed the trauma.
“But whatever underlies what occurred, it cannot bring back the two lives that have been so tragically lost,” Mr and Mrs Kitt said.
“There is no undoing what has happened and the weight of that recognition is almost impossible to bear.”
Police Commissioner Grant Stevens, who attended the crash scene along with Deputy Commissioner Linda Williams, described it as “one of the most horrific” he had seen.
Chief-Supt Shanahan, who also served as acting assistant commissioner, was the passenger in a Holden SUV driven by her husband, Peter Shanahan.
Mr Shanahan, 63, a former detective and now SA Police General Counsel, was treated for minor injuries in hospital.
Mr Stevens described Chief-Supt Shanahan as “one of our finest senior police officers”.
“Not only have we lost a beautiful person but we’ve lost an officer with a wealth of knowledge,” an emotional Mr Stevens said on Sunday.
“She had a passion for helping people and she cared about people – not just her friends and her family – but people she genuinely held concerns for and supported during very difficult times as a police officer.”
Ms McNeill was the sole occupant of a BMW involved in the crash. Her family paid tribute to a “loving, vibrant lady who enjoyed a good laugh”.
“She was a kind and loving mother, wife, daughter and sister who would do anything for anyone,” they said in a statement.
Landmark city buildings, including Adelaide Oval and Parliament House, were lit up in blue on Monday night to commemorate mother-of-two Chief-Supt Shanahan.
She joined the force in 1981 and was just the third woman in SA Police history to be appointed Chief Superintendent.
Her career spanned more than three decades and involved major cases that shocked the state, including the child abuse uncovered in the northern suburbs House of Horrors in 2008.
Chief-Supt Shanahan, the daughter of Greek immigrants, received the Australian Police Medal in the 2019 Australia Day honours.