Partner Casey Watters pays tribute to central Queensland forklift accident victim Joe Williams

Brisbane woman Casey Watters says she is still coming to terms with the fact that her unborn child will never get to meet her dad.

Casey Watters and Joe Williams at the footy together. The couple first met after a Broncos game.

When Casey Watters was woken by a knock on the door from the police at her Brisbane home at 5am on Saturday, she assumed her car had been stolen.

She didn’t know it at that moment, but her entire life was about to be ripped apart.

Thirty-eight weeks pregnant with her first child, Ms Watters sat horrified as police broke the news she never expected, and still hasn’t been able to fully come to terms with.

About two hours earlier, at Middlemount, northwest of Rockhampton, her partner of the past four years, future husband and the father to her unborn daughter, had been killed in a forklift accident.

The couple had a French Bulldog and a Neapolitan Mastiff that were very close to their dad.

Joe Williams, 35, will be remembered by his family and friends as a car fanatic and fun loving larrikin, a caring provider for his partner, their two dogs, and the child they were expecting.

Surrounded by loved ones at her Mansfield home on Monday, Ms Watters said the true impact of her partner’s loss still had not hit sunk in.

“I have gone from having the most loving, wonderful partner, expecting our first child, and preparing to get married, and now that’s all gone,” she said.

Joe Williams and Casey Watters in their first photograph together. The couple met four years ago.

“I feel like my whole world has been taken from me.

“I think it is very unfair that a dad doesn’t get to meet his daughter and I just don’t understand it, and I don’t think I ever will.”

Mr Williams was a fly in-fly-out worker, doing seven days on and seven off as a site manager for a fire suppression business.

A forklift rolled and trapped his foot in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Sadly, this was the last photo taken of Casey Watters and Joe Williams together. Ms Watters is 38 weeks pregnant with their first child.

Ms Watters said her partner had been in the fire suppression industry for a decade and in his current role for the past year.

The couple met four years ago after a Broncos game at the Caxton Hotel and had become soulmates.

Mr Williams was even selling his beloved blue ute to help save up for the wedding they were planning.

The V8 Supercars fanatic held an annual Bathurst race day celebration at their house and he was so eager to pass his passion on to his daughter that he had put a poster of Chaz Mostert above the baby’s cot.

“He was just so excited about our baby,” Ms Watters said.

Joe Williams with his beloved blue ute filled with beer and ice for his annual Bathurst celebration.

“He was telling everyone he knew, telling strangers on the phone.

“He was just a fun loving larrikin. He loved a laugh, loved a prank, but he was also a hard worker and he looked after me and our dogs.”

Ms Watters said she was taking the loss, “second by second” and had appreciated the support of family and friends, with messages of support coming from far and wide.

But she said the true impact of his loss probably had not hit her just yet.

“He would send me a good morning text every day that he was away working, and I am still getting up in the morning checking my phone,” she said.

Casey Watters and Joe Williams on holiday in Fiji.

“I am still expecting him to come home.”

Mr Williams will be cremated and laid to rest next to his older brother Mark, who passed away about eight years ago.

Two GoFundMe campaigns have been started by friends of Mr Williams to help support Ms Watters.

For further information on those fundraisers, click on this link or this link