Phillip Richard Sturrock found guilty of dangerous driving causing the death of Stephen Bowen

His bad eyesight, a poor knowledge of technology, and really “needing to look at this thing” while texting led to tragedy after he killed a man, a court heard, crashing into him with a 14-tonne load.

Fatal truck crash on the Bruce Highway at Stuart, November 24, 2020.

“Just hit town.”

This is the text which starts a chain of events, ending with a man dead, his blood and truck spread across the Bruce Highway outside Townsville.

The text was sent by a then 61-year-old Phillip Richard Sturrock, who was driving a Volvo prime mover hauling a 14-tonne mining pump.

His texts were submitted as evidence in a four-day trial over the death of Townsville man Stephen Bowen.

On Thursday, Sturrock was convicted of his death, he had been charged with dangerous driving causing death.

Sturrock had picked the pump up in Moranbah that afternoon, and was taking it to an address in Garbutt. The Mackay-based truck driver passed Alligator Creek and Billabong Sanctuary, texting back and forth with his son.

“How’s the travelling?” his son sent back. “AOK.”

Sturrock then texted his son one last time: “will look it up now”, referring to finding directions into Garbutt. His phone records this text being sent at 9.59pm.

Tracey Payne with her father Steve Bowen, who died in a truck crash south of Townsville.

At 10.02pm, a woman driving towards Alligator Creek encounters so much dust her headlights can’t see the road ahead.

She is the first person on-scene to a horror crash between two trucks.

The other truck was a Kenworth, with Mr Bowen driving for Blenners on a Townsville to Mackay run.

At 100km/h, Mr Bowen’s cab impacted with the side of Sturrock’s trailer head-on, killing him instantaneous as his truck was torn into pieces and the mining pump on Sturrock’s trailer dislodged.

No one witnessed the crash - not even Sturrock, who only recalls swerving to the left to avoid bright oncoming lights and feeling his trailer jerk.

Sturrock insists both his hands were on the wheel and he wasn’t looking at his phone - but the evidence was too much for the jury who’d sat through four days of evidence, witness testimony and police interviews.

The prosecution accused Sturrock of being distracted by his phone, running off the road into an embankment, hitting the rock wall, damaging his trailer, and ricochetting back onto the road - right into Mr Bowen’s path.

In the Townsville District Court, Mr Sturrock was found guilty of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death, and was sentenced to three years in prison, 12 months suspended.

Phillip Richard Sturrock has been found guilty and has been sentenced to three years in prison for dangerous operation of a vehicle causing death. He'll be eligible for parole in after serving 12 months.

Now 64-years-old, Sturrock followed his barrister to the secure hallway that leads to the police watch house below, stopping only briefly for one last word with his son.

“See ya, mate,” he said quietly.

Judge Everson said he could see Sturrock was genuinely, deeply distressed by the fact he’d killed a man.

“You don’t have to be inherently bad, you don’t have to do something which is deliberately evil, in order for there to be tragic and criminal consequences,” Judge Everson said, looking Sturrock in the eye after sentencing him to jail.

“The use of mobile telephones by people who are driving is very prevalent, but very dangerous, and this is just one instance where it’s led to truly tragic consequences.”

Sturrock owned a Nokia phone at the time, didn’t know how to use bluetooth or hands free, relied on his phone for directions or called his son for directions, and admitted he was terrible at texting, bad at spelling, needed glasses to read small text and “really had to look at the thing” while texting.

The crash happened at night, in an unlit part of the Bruce Hwy, in a 100km/h zone, while he was hauling 14 tonnes.

Sturrock said his phone travelled on the dash, within reach, and let off a very loud ‘police siren’ style alert whenever he received a message so he could hear it properly.

Aftermath of the crash on the Bruce Highway at Stuart, November 24, 2020.

Mr Bowen’s daughter Tracey Payne spoke to the court about her father, and her loss, describing how driving towards an oncoming truck at night now makes her panic.

“I need to focus on breathing to ensure I do not go into a panic attack thinking ‘is this the last thing he saw?’” she said.

“I struggle when driving and seeing people on their phones, so oblivious.”

After being found guilty, Sturrock’s long criminal history was given to the judge for the first time. It was revealed Sturrock had grown up in foster care since he was an infant and was raised in children’s institutions in Victoria, and had a criminal history of burglary, theft and dishonesty in the state.

He never served any jail time for the offending.

In Queensland, his only criminal history was a handful of speeding fines and an instance of driving without undue care and attention in 2010 when his truck went into a drain at 1am after he reached for some lollies.

Originally published as Phillip Richard Sturrock found guilty of dangerous driving causing the death of Stephen Bowen