Stephen Bowen’s final minutes played in court during Phillip Sturrock trial

A hushed court watched the last minutes of Stephen Bowen’s life leading to his fatal crash, including his family. The man charged with his death has admitted to using his phone moments before the crash.

Steve Bowen, 64, loved his grandsons Connor (left), Noah and Zac.

A hushed courtroom watched the last seven minutes and seven seconds of the life of truck driver Stephen Bowen on Tuesday.

The eerie dashcam footage showed the 64-year-old Gulliver driver concentrating as he held the wheel, occasionally looking around and appearing to sing.

The highway was very quiet as he moved along, a relaxed professional driver completely unaware he was driving towards his sudden death.

The court heard that the footage cut out only a few seconds before his Kenworth B-double was involved in a head on collision with a semi-trailer on the Bruce Highway at Stuart about 10pm on November 24, 2020.

Family members of Mr Bowen were in the court when the footage was shown.

Blenners Transport’s maintenance manager Peter John Morris told the court that the dashboard camera was one of three tracking devices in the B-double and the recordings were done on 30 second intervals.

Karen Hillier with her cousin Steve Bowen.

He said it would have cut out within between 5 and thirty seconds of the impact because of power failure in the truck.

Phillip Richard Sturrock, 61 has pleaded not guilty to the dangerous driving charge causing death after his semi-trailer and a B-double collided.

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

On Wednesday, his evidence was tested in the court, where it was heard he was texting back-and-forth with his son just one minute before the crash.

His Nokia phone recorded him sending two texts at 9.57pm, receiving an incoming text at 9.57pm, and sending a text at 9.59pm.

His final text read “I will try and look it up now” referring to finding directions into Garbutt.

The horror crash happened sometime around 10pm, with the first triple-0 call being made at 10.02pm.

The court was shown footage of a police interview between Mr Sturrock and Senior Constable Lachlan Bastion, where the Mackay-based truck driver was confronted with his phone data and truck’s GPS tracking.

Mr Sturrock initially denied ever using his phone, but eventually admitted he was using it before the crash.

“Both hands were on the wheel at the time,” Mr Sturrock.

“I wasn’t using it at the time of the accident because I’d finished talking to (my son).”

Recounting his memories of the crash, Mr Sturrock said it happened out of nowhere.

“I was just driving along like you normally would, all of a sudden there were bright lights coming and they were coming straight at me,” he said.

“I couldn’t see anything so I just moved over to the left.”

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

Mr Sturrock admitted he wasn’t good with technology, and did not use Bluetooth or hands free while driving his truck.

He said if he wanted directions to a place, he’d call his son and ask him to look it up.

After that evidence was played, Sturrock took the stand in court.

It was heard his mobile phone text tone was a police siren, which he said he picked because you look up to see what it is.

A 14 tonne mine pump and tray dislodged from Sturrock’s semi when the chain broke on impact and crushed the cabin of the B-double.

Police on the scene found the ripped off ceiling of Mr Bowen’s truck cab embedded in Mr Sturrock’s trailer, including an untouched speaker and a blood-soaked sun visor.

Senior crown prosecutor Monique Sheppard told the court that Sturrock had been driving north towards Townsville on a clear, dry night when the head-on collision occurred.

She said there were no mechanical or technical issues with either his semi-trailer or Bowen’s B-double and neither driver was affected by alcohol or drugs.

Long distance truck driver Dave Mark Walton told the court that he had driven from Cairns and was heading to Mackay on November 24, 2020.

He said he had stopped for dinner at a BP service station at the south end of the Townsville area at about 9.15pm and was back on the road at 9.55pm.

He told the court he travelled that route every week and as he was heading towards Ayr he spotted a truck on the side of the highway just past the turn-off to the Townsville Crematorium.

“I stopped my vehicle fairly quickly, because I was empty. I got out and walked up to the truck – there was dust swirling everywhere and I called out and asked if everyone was OK,” he said.

He then called triple-0 and moved closer to the truck.

“Everything on top of that was ‘splat’,” he said, indicating his chest with his hand to explain the flattened height of the cabin.

Mr Walton told the jury he then noticed another truck down the embankment and he went to investigate and found Sturrock inside.

“I asked if he was OK and he said he couldn’t get out, but I was able to wrench the driver’s door open and helped him out,” he said.

“He didn’t need too much help, but part of his left ear was hanging down and he asked me to get his overnight bag and phone, and he was able to walk away from the vehicle.”

Another witness, Ben Christopher Robinson, said he worked for the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries and had been working along Barramundi River, south of Townsville, and was returning home when he came across the accident.

He said he called triple-0, then walked towards the badly damaged B-double on the Bruce Highway and activated his body-worn camera that he wore on his chest as part of his job.

The jury was shown a video from the camera, with the dust still rising from the wreckage of Mr Bowen’s B-double cabin.

Both the Crown and defence will give their closing statements today.

Originally published as Stephen Bowen’s final minutes played in court during Phillip Sturrock trial