Motorcyclist killed in horror crash, Laurie Monaghan, ‘died doing what he loved’
Toowoomba man Laurie Monaghan was just an hour away from home after a three-week motorcycle tour when he was killed in a freak crash on the New England Highway.
QLD News
Don't miss out on the headlines from QLD News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
THE family of a motorcyclist who died in a tragic crash yesterday have said he “died doing what he loved”.
He had just finished an three-week motorbike ride around Tasmania and had pulled in at his parents’ home in Warwick earlier that day.
He was killed on the final leg of his trip, just an hour from his hometown of Meringandan, north of Toowoomba.
Before his trip to Tasmania, Mr Monaghan had rode his motorbike around Australia.
The carpenter by trade had served about 20 years in the Australian Army.
He had served two terms in East Timor and one in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea in various engineering roles.
Robyn Monaghan said her brother loved to travel to various battlefields around the world.
“He was also a very strong military enthusiast as well; he went over to Gallipoli for the 100th anniversary, and over to France for battlefield tours and then he toured England,” she said.
“His next plan was to go to Canada and America. He would’ve been wanting to do the battlefield tours over there.
“He’s got a lot of military friends.”
The crash that claimed Mr Monaghan’s life was the result of an awful and disastrous series of events in which a ute that was waiting to turn right onto Opportunity Drive was struck from behind by a station wagon.
The ute was propelled into the path of Mr Monaghan’s motorbike. The two vehicles collided and Mr Monaghan died at the scene.
In a touching tribute online, his niece Bec Gimm wrote: “RIP uncle Laurie. We will all miss you. Now you can ride your motorbike all the time up in heaven”.
Ms Gimm said she couldn’t believe such a thing could happen and urged motorists to take care on the road.
Police are investigating the crash, and are asking anyone with dashcam footage of the incident to come forward.
Covert police ops launched as crime wave sweeps suburbs
A covert police operation has been launched to tackle a southern Brisbane crime wave, after thousands of fed-up residents started patrolling their own streets.
Man walks over drugs charges due to ‘peculiar circumstances’
A Gold Coast man who travelled to the US to post meth back to himself in Australia has walked from court due to the strange circumstances of the case.