Brett Daniel Matton pleads guilty to driving without due care causing the death of Ethan Durnsford
The parents of a much-loved Bowen teen killed in a Peak Downs Highway crash have revealed the lingering emotional toll of their son’s death as the driver was sentenced in court.
Police & Courts
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The father of a Bowen teen killed in an inexplicable rollover says the “screams of disbelief” from his wife learning their eldest son was dead will haunt him forever.
Powerful victim impact statements were read to Mackay Magistrates Court as the driver of the car that crashed, killing 18-year-old Ethan Durnsford, was sentenced.
Mr Durnsford was believed to be asleep in the passenger seat when his friend, Brett Daniel Matton, drove the ute onto the other side of the road and into an oncoming truck.
Mr Durnsford died at the scene.
Mackay Magistrates Court heard Brett Daniel Matton was driving Mr Durnsford’s parents’ Nissan Navara back from Moranbah on August 8.
The pair had been visiting Mr Durnsford’s brother, Rohan Durnsford.
The two had only recently swapped seats with Matton taking the wheel after stopping at the BP service station near the intersection of Moranbah Access Rd, about 100km from where the fatal crash happened.
Prosecutor Harry Coburn said the ute was approaching a bend in the road when instead of turning, forensic investigations showed the vehicle continued straight, crossing solid white lines and into the oncoming B-double truck.
Mr Coburn said the car spun 360 degrees where it left the road and came to rest upright down a steep embankment.
The court heard Matton managed to get out himself out of the vehicle but stayed with his dying friend, helping in any way he could.
Mr Coburn said Matton had tested negative for alcohol and drugs and there was no sign he had been using his phone or speeding.
He said CCTV footage from the BP service station indicated Matton showed no signs of tiredness.
He pleaded guilty to driving without due care and attention and without reasonable consideration of other persons using the road causing death.
Matton’s defence solicitor Rosemary Varley said the tragedy happened from a moment of inattentiveness.
She said the two had met when they first began high school in Bowen and had remained close friends since.
“The events of that day and what it led to will live with Mr Matton for the rest of his life,” Ms Varley said.
“He lost his best friend.”
But she said Matton knew it was not just him that was suffering the loss of Mr Durnsford and he wanted to acknowledge the pain he had caused to his friend’s family.
In a powerful victim impact statement, Mr Durnsford’s mother Jenny Durnsford described the ripple of grief the crash had caused.
Prosecutor Harry Coburn read the statements to the court on February 11.
“Ethan was my child, he looked like me and we were even due to be born on the same day,” Mrs Durnsford wrote.
“He was loved by everyone in the family — that red curly hair and that cheeky smile.”
She said her two sons would fight – as siblings do – but they were still “the best of mates”.
“It was Ethan and Rohan, Rohan and Ethan — said as one word, not three,” Mrs Durnsford wrote.
“Rohan hasn’t known life without Ethan in it, it's him I worry for now.”
Ethan Durnsford had recently started a new job in Townsville, which would eventually have had him taking over the running of his grandfather’s farm.
“Every night Ethan would ring me and tell me what he had gotten up to during the day, when he hung up, he always said I love you,” she wrote
“Some nights I still wait for that phone call, even though I know it won’t happen, my heart still doesn’t want to believe.”
Mr Durnsford’s father Craig Durnsford contributed a heart wrenching statement detailing the moment police came to his front door, and the emotional pain since.
“There is absolutely nothing on heaven or earth that could prepare me to hear that Ethan had died at the scene of a collision,” Mr Durnsford wrote.
“To hear the screams of disbelief from Jenny — my wife and mother of Ethan — will haunt me til the day I day.”
Mr Durnsford wrote that in the weeks before his son’s death, he had made significant changes in his work life balance to get closer to his sons.
“The chance to do that now with Ethan has been ripped away,” he said.
“I choke back tears constantly knowing I can’t tell him how much I love him and that he was going to make a better man than I am.”
Magistrate William Cooper said the crash appeared to have happened from an error of judgment and momentary inattention.
“While these moments of inattention, people refer to them as accidents, they still nevertheless result in serious consequences,” Mr Cooper said.
Mr Cooper said he took into account Matton’s remorse demonstrated in court.
He sentenced Matton to six months in jail, wholly suspended for a period of two years.
He was disqualified from driving for 12 months.
Ethan Durnsford’s mother, father and grandfather gathered outside the Mackay courthouse after Matton’s sentence on February 11.
“People say it brings closure, but it doesn’t bring any closure — nothing closes,” Mr Durnsford said, speaking outside court.
Mrs Durnsford agreed adding they knew nothing could bring their son back.
“We didn’t want Brett to go to jail,” Mrs Durnsford said.
“He’s too young, he would have come out more broken, we never wanted that.
“But we did want him to sit back and have a think about what he’s doing with his life.
“They’re right, he has to live with this the rest of his life but so do we.”
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