Bundaberg mother-of-four Tania Roy was on a break while working as a cleaner at a Bargara aged care home on the morning of Thursday, April 20, 2023 when she took the phone call from her eldest son, James, telling her to return to her Avenell Heights home as soon as she could.

Just moments before, while scrolling through Facebook, she had seen a post about a crash involving a motorbike and a car in Maroondan, about an hour from Bargara.

Her youngest son, Brayden, had left home that morning on his beloved Honda XR650 bound for the family property in Wallaville.

Knowing his route to the property took him through Maroondan, Tania stopped her thoughts from going to the darkest place imaginable.

“I didn’t want to think that..,” Tania said, trailing off while reflecting on that terrible day.

“That he was your son,” her daughter, Trina Roy, said softly, comforting her mother as they sat around the kitchen table.

Tania’s worst fears were realised when she arrived home and saw police cars parked in front of her house.

“When I drove down the road the police were out the front, and I knew, I just knew,” she said.

Her emotions in turmoil, Tania fell to the floor as soon as she entered her home.

“It’s happened, hasn’t it?” she asked the two police officers standing in her living room.

“They just said ‘yes, we’re sorry but Brayden was killed...’,” she said.

According to police reports, Braden’s Honda XR650 motorbike was travelling west along Bundaberg Gin Gin Rd in Maroondan around 11am on April 20, when it collided with a silver Ford Ranger ute.

Twenty-two-year-old Brayden died at the scene from critical injuries.

The driver of the Ford Ranger, Dennis Charles Neller, 81, of Horse Camp, appeared before Bundaberg Magistrates Court on June 6, charged with operating a vehicle causing death.

The Roy family went to the hearing, and Tania held a photo of Brayden as she sat in the public gallery.

Mr Neller was released on bail ahead of the next hearing on July 18.

The description of that day’s tragic events does no justice to the “nightmare” unleashed on Tania, Trina and the close network of family and friends who are trying to come to terms with Brayden’s death.

“We cry every day, and we can’t believe that it’s happened,” Tania said.

“It’s a nightmare. He was just such a bright, bubbly, young boy that just enjoyed life.”

The youngest of four siblings, Brayden always had a special place in Tania’s heart as “the baby of the family”.

“I love all of them, but Brayden just that little bit more; he was my baby, he really was,” she said.

Remembered as “an absolutely beautiful baby, really joyful”, Brayden went to preschool and primary school in Walkervale before graduating from Kepnock State High School.

While he would often get into the usual fights and scraps with his two older brothers while growing up, Brayden doted on his oldest brother, James.

“Whatever James had, he had to have,” Tania said.

“He looked up to him very, very much. They did everything together.”

When James got his motorcycle licence Brayden followed suit as soon as he could, and the brothers often went touring with their father.

“Brayden was a very good rider; they used to ride down the Sunshine Coast, they used to ride everywhere together,” Tania said.

Brayden worked at Fresh Fields Foodworks for around six years through high school and after graduating.

Trina’s husband, Andrew Barry, was Brayden’s manager at the supermarket, and remembers Brayden as a “people person” who was much loved by customers and staff.

“He’d have a conversation with everyone, the customers loved talking to Brayden at the counter,” Andrew said.

“You’d get young fellows coming in and he’d high-five them saying ‘how are you going brother’, all that sort of stuff. He was a real go-getter, a real people person.”

While Brayden went on to do stints working at the Millaquin Sugar Mill and the Innes Park Golf Club, his driving passion was to live the life of a farmer working the land with his father on the family’s Wallaville property.

“That’s what he was going to do, just be a farmer with his dad; he just loved it,” Tania said.

Andrews remembers Brayden was “always dreaming big” about his plans for the farm.

“That was Brayden’s passion, he was always dreaming big for that place; that’s all he wanted to do,” Andrew said.

“If Brayden wanted to do something, he’d run away with it and try to make it happen. That’s where he was on his way to when he had his accident.”

Brayden had been ploughing ground on the farm the week before the crash, and had come home to collect a few things before heading back on what was to be his final trip to the farm on the day of the crash.

His family’s memories of Brayden are more palpable on the farm than at home, due to the work he had done shaping the property in his last days.

“When we go out there the memories of Brayden are unbelievable, more out there than here,” Tania said.

“We can see where he ploughed up all the ground and he got it all ready.”

The family’s grief and anger at losing Brayden is felt most keenly at the thought that he was on the verge of becoming independent and living the life in which he would be most fulfilled.

“He’s just been taken away from us, it’s so hard,” Tainia said.

“He’s been ripped from our arms,” his sister, Trina, said.

On the day of his funeral, the procession led by his friends and father on motorcycles rode along Bourbong St before wending its way to the crematorium.

The chapel was full of family, friends and wellwishers who had never met Brayden but wanted to pay their respects and show their support for his family.

“The chapel was not big enough, people were standing outside; it was just amazing,” Tania said.

“It was beautiful. He touched so many people’s hearts, and he still does.”

A picture of Brayden hangs on the wall in the kitchen, and a memorial has been created at the front of the house, including some of his everyday possessions.

“He always will be here; every morning we talk to him and he’s looking down on us,” Tania said.

“We’ve just got to tell ourselves that Brayden’s never coming back, we just have to keep going forward.”

Tania’s memory of her last conversation with Brayden is helping her to bear the crushing grief through the long days and sleepless nights.

On the morning of April 20, Brayden called Tania to let her know he was leaving home for the farm, about to take his last ride on his beloved XR650.

“He said ‘I love you Mum’,” Tania said.

“I just miss that so much.”