Senior journalist Paul Starick and family involved in crash with accused killer driver

A driver who is accused of killing a woman has allegedly caused a second crash and injured the family of one of the state’s most senior journalists.

A driver who is accused of killing a woman, but was allowed to keep his licence and continue driving on bail, has allegedly caused a second crash and injured the family of one of the state’s most senior journalists.

The man, 21, has been fined by SA Police for offences including driving an unregistered vehicle following his collision with Advertiser editor-at-large Paul Starick, his wife and children on Saturday.

The Advertiser can reveal that the driver is on bail ahead of a trial next year for causing death by dangerous driving – an offence which, under state law, requires a person’s licence to be cancelled.

However, that law did not come into effect until August 2022, after the man allegedly killed a woman in the northern suburbs – meaning his arrest was not subject to that requirement.

Paul Starick at home with his dog, Rusty, on Monday. His family were involved in a crash with an alleged killer driver over the weekend. Picture: Dean Martin

Because of his impending trial, the man cannot be identified.

On Saturday, Mr Starick and his family were leaving his daughter’s netball game at Nazareth College, Flinders Park, when they were involved in a crash with another car.

“I turned left out of the carpark, checked for oncoming traffic, saw some cars in the distance, but obviously at a safe distance, so I pulled out onto Holbrooks Rd and then probably about 100 metres on went to do a U-turn,” he said.

“Then we were hit from behind in the back right-hand side of the car.

“That flung us into the oncoming lanes … we were spun around, it was almost like a spinning top. That’s what it felt like.”

Mr Starick’s wife and teenage son were slammed into the side of their BYD SUV, leaving them with minor upper body injuries, while the other driver was uninjured but the front of his silver Nissan Pulsar had crumpled.

Following the crash, the driver provided his details but repeatedly asked Mr Starick not to report the incident.

Police were called, however, and issued the driver with fines for offences including failing to keep a safe distance from a vehicle in front and driving unregistered on a road.

“He told me he was uninsured and offered to pay me money to not report the crash,” Mr Starick said.

“He was quite exasperated and waving his hands around and getting in my face.”

A witness who stopped after the crash said the Nissan driver was “speeding at a drastic rate”.

“He sped past me in the right-hand lane super, super fast. So no wonder there was a collision,” she said.

The witness said she had been doing exactly 60km/h in the lead-up to the crash, and noted the Nissan “speeding right past me”.

The Nissan pulsar involved in the collision. Picture: Supplied

The crash involving the Staricks comes less than a month after Luigi Gligora, who nearly killed former Advertiser deputy editor Ben Hyde, received a four-year jail term.

The driver involved in the alleged incident with the Staricks will stand trial in the District Court early next year, having pleaded not guilty to one count of causing the death of a woman, who was in a separate car, by dangerous driving in 2022.

The long period between his plea and trial date is the result of an ongoing backlog within the District Court’s workload.

Craig Caldicott, co-chair of the Law Society of SA’s criminal law committee, said the current wait time for a trial was “about 12-15 months, depending on what the charge is”.

That wait time has remained consistent since 2021, despite repeated attempts at reform.

Prior to February 2021, drivers were not stripped of their licences upon arrest at fatal crash scenes and were legally permitted to stay on the roads, so long as their bail allowed it.

That law was rewritten by the former Liberal Government as a result of The Advertiser’s Road to Justice campaign and the advocacy of Leigh and Lynette Lyall.

There was minor damage to the Starick’s BYD SUV. Picture: Supplied

Their children, Troy and Shanae, were both killed in a single 2011 crash involving driver Adrian O’Daniel, who was allowed to continue driving while on bail.

O’Daniel was convicted of one aggravated count of driving without due care and attention.

Under the changed law, offenders’ licences are cancelled immediately upon charges of causing death by dangerous driving being laid against them.

SA Police have power to issue on-the-spot cancellations at crash scenes where an officer reasonably believes a charge of causing death by dangerous driving will be laid.

However, that law did not come into effect until August 29, 2022 – weeks after the crash that resulted in the man being charged with causing death by dangerous driving.

His bail agreement, released by the Adelaide Magistrates Court, shows he was released on a $500 bail guarantee, subject only to mandatory conditions banning the possession of firearms.

It contains no prohibition on driving – and one has not been added in his many subsequent court appearances.

On Monday, SA police declined to comment on the incident as the driver’s earlier alleged offending “is before the court”.

Attorney-General Kyam Maher said, following the tragic death of teenager Sophia Naismith, the Labor government extended the circumstances in which immediate loss of licence applies.

The provision now applies to offences including leaving the scene of an accident and dangerous driving causing serious harm.

Sophia, 15, was fatally struck after the driver of a Lamborghini lost control and mounted a footpath at Glengowrie in 2019.

Originally published as Senior journalist Paul Starick and family involved in crash with accused killer driver