Jonathan Wright pleads not guilty in Toowoomba Supreme Court to murder of Brisbane man Paul Sia in horrific highway event

As clouds of cash flew around the scene of a crash, a Toowoomba man is accused of turning his vehicle on a Brisbane man, striking him down and running him over – with everything caught on camera.

Jonathan Wright has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Brisbane man Paul Sia, who died after he was hit by a vehicle on the Toowoomba Range in November 2022.

A Toowoomba man is accused of intentionally running down a Brisbane man on the side of the highway, with the moment captured fully on a nearby dashboard camera.

Rockville man Jonathan Wright appeared before Toowoomba Supreme Court on Monday pleading not guilty to the murder of Brisbane man Paul Sia after he was accused of callously driving the man over in November 2022, leading to Mr Sia’s death in December.

In his opening statements to the jury, Crown prosecutor Ben Jackson claimed Mr Wright chased down Mr Sia and his associate, Nathan Vaevae, after briefly meeting with them near his Vanity St home in Rockville about 2.45pm the day of the incident.

“Why they went there is unknown, what they were doing there is also unknown but we do have information that suggests Mr Wright knew who they were,” Mr Jackson said.

CCTV footage played to the court showed Mr Wright rush to a Holden Rodeo utility and follow the pair after leaving the address in a Nissan Tiida and going down the Toowoomba Range.

In his testimony, a witness truck driver stated he saw Mr Wright ram the Nissan Tiida on the side of Toowoomba Connection Rd near Withcott Freedom Fuels, which triggered him to activate his dashboard camera.

“At this point, Mr Wright has already rammed the rear of the Nissan Tiida, which has forced the Nissan Tiida off the road and it has collided with the fence,” Mr Jackson said.

“Mr Sia gets out of the vehicle… you’ll see him go to collect items from the side of the road, that’s cash, wads of notes in Australian currency.”

Jonathan Wright, is facing trial in Toowoomba Supreme Court after pleading not guilty to murder.

Mr Jackson told the jury police recovered around $16,500 from inside Mr Sia’s vehicle and the surrounding area.

“How much there was in total we don’t really know because Mr Wright… picked up cash himself by the side of the road,” Mr Jackson claimed.

The court was then shown dashcam footage in which Mr Wright’s vehicle can be seen circling to face a kneeling Mr Sia, before driving at full force directly at him.

“You see in the cam footage from the truck Mr Sia by the roadside and the Holden Rodeo then makes a loop and runs over the top of him,” Mr Jackson described.

“The wheel ran over his head.

“(Mr Wright) then retrieves cash from around Mr Sia and goes over to (Mr Sia’s) vehicle and starts to look inside the vehicle,” he claimed.

“You can see Mr Wright offers no assistance at all to Mr Sia.”

Exterior of Toowoomba Courthouse, Toowoomba court generic, Monday, June 17, 2024. Picture: Kevin Farmer

The witness truck driver testified Mr Sia’s clothing was ripped off his body from the impact and the man appeared “deceased” on the ground.

Mr Jackson stated there would be no dispute between the parties as to whether Mr Wright was the man driving the vehicle that struck Mr Sia down.

Mr Sia died in hospital roughly two weeks after the incident from extensive head and brain injuries.

Paramedics at the scene reported seeing brain fluid leaking from Mr Sia’s ear, clear injuries to his jaw and heavy bleeding from his head.

His passenger, Mr Vaevae was taken to hospital but only received treatment for minor bruising.

Mr Wright’s Holden Rodeo utility was never recovered.

Mr Wright will be represented by barrister Douglas Wilson, instructed by MacDonald Law.

The trial, presided over by Justice Thomas Bradley KC, will continue into the week.

Originally published as Jonathan Wright pleads not guilty in Toowoomba Supreme Court to murder of Brisbane man Paul Sia in horrific highway event