Brother of mother and daughter killed in Daylesford crash says he’ll never forgive the driver
The devastated brother of a mother and young daughter killed when a car smashed into a Daylesford beer garden has spoken of his shock after the diabetic driver walked free.
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The grieving brother of a mother and young daughter killed when a car smashed into a Daylesford beer garden says he will never forgive the diabetic driver.
William Herbert Swale, 67, was suffering a severe hypoglycaemic episode when he ploughed into a beer garden and killed five people outside the Royal Daylesford Hotel on November 5 last year.
Pratibha Sharma, 44, her nine-year-old daughter Anvi and partner Jatin Kumar, 30, along with Vivek Bhatia, 38, and son Vihaan, 11, were killed in the horror crash, while several others were injured.
Mr Swale faced a three-day committal hearing at Ballarat Magistrates’ Court this week before Magistrate Guillaume Bailin on Thursday ruled the evidence against him was “so weak” that his chances of conviction were minimal.
“As such I discharge the accused on all charges,” he said.
Speaking to the Herald Sun on Friday, Ms Sharma’s brother Vikas Sharma said he would never forgive Mr Swale.
“He killed five innocent people,” he said.
“The fact he can just walk away a free man, it’s shocking.”
Mr Sharma said he was “blindsided” with Magistrate Bailin’s decision and was left with more questions than answers.
“Has his licence been cancelled? Is he still driving?” he said.
“Did he get any sort of punishment? We don’t even know. We are still in the dark.”
Mr Sharma said his father Dilver and mother Urmila were both hospitalised in the months after the tragedy, suffering from serious medical conditions.
“My mother had a stroke, she can’t walk or eat properly anymore,” he said.
“She has memory loss and she’s always crying.
“My dad has heart problems. It was all because of the trauma from the crash.”
Mr Sharma said he planned to join Mr Bhatia’s family in suing Mr Swale.
“There has to be some kind of punishment,” he said.
“We did not hear any apology … not even through the media or direct to us.
“Our relatives are not coming back.”
The court heard a continuous blood monitoring device recorded Mr Swale’s blood-glucose levels dropping from 7.2 millimoles per litre – within the normal range – to 2.9 mmol in a 20-minute window about an hour before the crash.
After the second reading, Mr Swale allegedly received the first of several phone alerts at 5.18pm that his blood-glucose levels were low.
At 5.22pm, he went into Winespeake Cellar + Deli but left immediately because no tables were available.
He began driving again at 5.36pm and six minutes later his BMW SUV was recorded on CCTV sitting motionless in the middle of the road outside Daylesford bowls club, forcing other motorists to go around.
It took him a further 23 minutes to travel about 300m before he failed to negotiate a turn and ploughed into the beer garden.
When he was assessed by paramedics after the crash, the court heard a blood-glucose reading of 1.1 mmol was taken and Mr Swale was “virtually close to death”.
The court heard Mr Swale’s legal costs would be paid by the Chief Commissioner.
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Originally published as Brother of mother and daughter killed in Daylesford crash says he’ll never forgive the driver
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