‘We hit a bump it just threw ‘em off’: Ute death conviction quashed

A guilty verdict for a ute driver whose 22-year-old passenger died when he fell off the tray during a boozy camping weekend in Far North Queensland has been overturned.

The incident happened near the Leichhardt Falls in Normanton in 2022.

A ute driver whose 22-year-old mate died when he fell off the tray when they went to check a yabby pot during a boozy camping weekend has had his conviction for dangerous driving quashed.

In a decision handed down on Tuesday by the state’s highest court, Jason Bronco Tramsek succeeded in overturning the guilty verdict handed down by a jury on August 23 last year.

Tramsek was found guilty by a District Court jury in Mt Isa of dangerous operation of a vehicle causing death over the dead of Andrew Bee at Leichhardt Falls near Normanton on February 26, 2022.

In their unanimous decision, Chief Justice Helen Bowskill together with Justices John Bond and Peter Callaghan ruled that Tramsek should be given a new trial.

“A miscarriage of justice has occurred,” the court ruled, citing a misdirection given by trial judge Nathan Jarro as to the use that could be made by the jury of the evidence about Tramsek drinking alcohol.

Judge Nathan Jarro in blue tie. .

Tramsek was last year sentenced to three years jail, suspended after 18 months for an operational period of three years.

The accident happened when Tramsek drove his single cab Toyota LandCruiser ute along a rough dirt road at night, on the way back from the waterfall at Leichhardt Falls with Mr Bell, another man and a dog on the flat rear tray.

Tramskek guessed he had consumed four or five XXXX Gold beers and one and a half 700ml bottles of Bailey’s and admitted that he was “definitely not sober”.

They were on the way back to their campsite after having visited the waterfall where the checked their yabby pots.

Bee suffered a severe head injury in the fall and Tramsek called triple-0 at 11.55pm.

At 1.25am a nurse from Burketown arrived in an ambulance, and Bee was still breathing but after about 10 minutes went into cardiac arrest.

At 1.50am the Royal Flying Doctor Service team arrived and helped with resuscitation, but Bee was pronounced dead at 2.10am.

The group were mates who had been working on a construction job in Normanton.

Bee, another man and the dog fell off the tray because of the way in which the ute was being driven, at a low speed, but with rapid acceleration and a short series of abrupt directional changes, the jury heard.

Tramsek told the triple-zero operator that “we hit a bump and it just threw ‘em, threw ‘em off.”

A video recording from Tramsek’s dashcam was played to the jury.

“A voice can be heard stating “Oi you young c***s! Hang on and hold me dog” and “Yo,

Wes, hang on, and hang [on to] that dog”,” the decision states.

The ute begins accelerating slowly, then as Tramsek shifts into second gear, the ute accelerates

rapidly causing the rear to oversteer and lose traction on the dirt road

and ‘fishtail’ to the left.

The indictment on which Tramsek was convicted in the District Court did not include a circumstance of aggravation referable to alcohol consumption and the fact that Tramsek said he was “definitely not sober” was not a particular of the dangerous driving charge.