Anita Warburton remembers her husband, Michael Warburton, after Wynnum West hit and run crash

The heartbroken wife of a man killed in a horrific hit and run has opened up about the painful moment she said goodbye.

Michael and Anita Warburton’s life as soulmates started when they walked into a barbecue hand-in-hand more than 34 years ago — on Monday, she felt the warmth fade from his fingers as she grasped them for the very last time.

Those tragic moments came after Mrs Warburton made the gut-wrenching decision to turn off life support to her husband of 33 years, after suffering critical injuries caused when he was struck by a stolen car in a hit and run at Wynnum West earlier that day.

After being told of the crash by police while at work, Mrs Warburton rushed to the Princess Alexandra Hospital before doctors told her there was nothing they could do.

Riley, Anita and Jessica Warburton pictured outside their home in Brisbane. Picture: Josh Woning

Not wanting her husband to suffer, Mrs Warburton waited long enough for his parents, three children and other family to see him before his final breath was taken.

“I can still see him and remember touching his hand, he was cold and didn’t have the warmth he usually has to him, I could feel that just disappear,” she said.

“This is the worst thing in my life that could ever happen.

“This is the saddest part of my life, I just lost my soulmate forever.

The memorial for Michael Warburton at a bus stop on Kianawah Rd where the Brisbane man was killed in a tragic hit and run crash.

“When police told me what happened, I just burst into tears, I knew he wasn’t alive anymore.

“I just had that feeling he wasn’t with me anymore, I lost that whole aura I had when he was around, I just knew.”

Mr Warburton was riding his Vespa road scooter to his Hemmant home after his regular Monday fitness session, when police allege a 15-year-old Wynnum teen driving a stolen car crossed to the wrong side of the road and mowed him down on Kianawah Rd.

Hemmant man Michael Warburton who died after a tragic hit and run on September 26. Picture: Facebook

Mrs Warburton never had the chance to speak to him the morning of the crash.

“I haven’t been sleeping well as you could probably understand the last few days, I still have all those what ifs going through my head,” she said.

“What if I had asked him to do something for me and he needed the car then he wouldn’t have been on the scooter, what if I rung him when class had finished?

“What if there was someone around for him to have coffee with, then he wouldn’t have been there at that time but the kids remind me that I can’t dwell on that because its not my fault, it was an accident.”

The memorial for Michael Warburton at a bus stop on Kianawah Rd where the Brisbane man was killed in a tragic hit and run crash.

Police have charged four teens over the incident, two of them with dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death.

However Mrs Warburton said she held no anger towards them.

“Am I mad at the kids involved? No. I’m not mad at them, they’re kids,” she said.

“I keep saying, where are the parents, it’s the parents’ responsibility.

Michael Warburton, who was killed in an alleged hit and run at Wynnum West on September 26.

“I just don’t understand.”

After several recent deaths involving alleged youth crime, including a crash which killed a pregnant Kate Leadbetter and her partner Matthew Field at Alexandra Hills last year, Mrs Warburton called for the state government to “do more” to prevent such incidents.

“I just don’t want it all to be for nothing because Michael was the most amazing man on this planet,” she said.

The memorial for Michael Warburton at a bus stop on Kianawah Rd where the Brisbane man was killed in a tragic hit and run crash.

In the days since the crash, the Warburton family has been flooded with support from the community.

The bus stop at the site of the incident has been turned into a makeshift memorial, with merchandise from his favourite team the Penrith Panthers covering the area and more than $36,000 donated to a GoFundMe page to cover funeral costs.

Mrs Warburton said the “overwhelming” community support showed how much the man, she called the “greatest husband and dad”, would be missed.

The pair met when Anita was a bridesmaid at a wedding where Michael was the MC in 1988. The then spent the night dancing before Michael delivered on a promise to accompany her the next day to a post-wedding barbecue, where they surprised family and friends when they walked in holding hands. For them, the rest was history.

Michael Warburton, who passed away after a tragic hit and run in Wynnum West. Picture: Facebook

Mr Warburton’s oldest child, daughter Jessica, received what would be her father’s last message before the crash reminding her the Panthers had made the grand final.

She said her dad always reminded her and her siblings of how much he loved them.

“He usually checks in every couple of days to see how I’m going or tell me the he loves me,” Jessica said.

“I have no doubt in my mind that he loved me so greatly and loved my brothers because he would just tell you.”

Asked what will her husband would be remembered for, Mrs Warburton said it was the joy he brought to everyone who knew him.

“His smile, his positivity that he’s passed around, and he loved to make people laugh,” she said.

Mr Warburton will be farewelled at a funeral service at the Wynnum Baptist Church on October 10.