Waterloo Corner crash victim was trapped under wreckage in flooded culvert
Police allege a drunk driver clipped the wheel of an elderly farmer’s tractor, leaving him to die trapped under water in a flooded culvert.
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A beloved market farmer died trapped under the wreckage of a crash that police allege happened after a drunk and dangerous driver caused his tractor to flip, a court has heard.
The Adelaide Magistrates Court on Wednesday heard the alleged devastating details that led to the death of farmer Giuseppe Macheda, 83.
Victorian man Robert Michael Ryan, 41, who was living at a northern-suburbs caravan park at the time, has been charged with aggravated causing death by dangerous driving and driving without due care in relation to the crash.
A police prosecutor described how Ryan allegedly tried to overtake Mr Macheda’s tractor while he was driving along Symes Rd, but clipped the rear wheel and caused it to flip and roll.
As the tractor rolled, the court heard, Mr Macheda was thrown from it and into a flooded culvert.
“Both of the vehicles then came to rest in the flooded culvert and (Mr Macheda) became submerged and trapped under (Ryan’s) vehicle, could not be retrieved and first-aid could not be administered,” the prosecutor told the court.
The court heard Mr Macheda, tragically, was just moments from home.
The crash happened on November 12, the same day as some of SA’s most wild recorded storms.
According to historical weather data, about 40mm of rain fell at Waterloo Corner between 9am on November 12 and the following morning.
According to court documents, and alleged by the prosecutor, Ryan recorded a blood alcohol result of more than 0.08 after the crash.
Those documents also alleged Ryan was unlicensed at the time of the crash.
The latest horrifying allegations emerged as the police prosecutor opposed an application by Ryan to be released on home detention bail.
The application was denied by Chief Magistrate, Judge Mary-Louise Hribal.
Ryan was arrested in November and charged over the crash.
If found guilty, a charge of causing death by dangerous driving can carry with it a term of life imprisonment.
The charge was legislatively strengthened late last year after Lamborghini driver Alexander Campbell was sentenced for aggravated driving without due care in respect of a collision which resulted in the death of 15-year-old Sophia Naismith.
That sentence came after he was acquitted of the charge of causing Sophia’s death by dangerous driving, and it meant Campbell was spared an actual prison term.
Ryan will next face court again later this month.
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Originally published as Waterloo Corner crash victim was trapped under wreckage in flooded culvert
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