Alphonse Ginn recovering in Royal Brisbane after Hilton Rd hit and run

The distraught family of a 21-year-old man mowed down in a hit and run on a deserted Gympie street have described their son as a ‘friendly larrikin’ and talked about the night they got the phone call every parent dreads. Now they want justice.

Alphonse Ginn was struck by a car during a hit and run incident near Gympie’s Central Shopping Centre on Friday night. Photo: Kylie Buckles.

Twenty-one-year-old Alphonse Ginn, his sister and a mate were walking from Gympie’s Mt Pleasant Hotel about 10pm on Friday, November 5, when the unthinkable happened.

A white Toyota Prado, captured on CCTV mounted at the Central Shopping Centre, was driving along Hilton Road when it is alleged to have hit and critically injured Alphonse, and to have kept driving.

Alphonse was rushed to Gympie Hospital with a head injury, but was soon flown to the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital where put into an induced coma and placed on life support.

Now, while Alphonse continues his recovery, his family wants justice.

His father, Andrew Ginn, said Alphonse had only recently moved to Gympie from Cairns to be closer to his older sister Katherine and his mother, Kylie Buckles.

Alphonse Ginn. Photo: Kylie Buckles.

When he got the phone call saying Alphonse had been hit by a car, he “went blank”.

“It took me about 24 hours to get my mind around that was actually what was happening,” he said.

On Thursday, Mr Ginn flew from Cairns to Brisbane to see his son, now off life support, awake and alert. It was a sight that reduced him to tears.

“I knew it was bad but when I actually saw him, it was a lot worse than what I thought it was,” he said.

“His face was split from the top of his head down to the bottom of his eye on the right hand side of his face.”

He said he thought Alphonse had also sustained a fractured skull, and needed wiring in his jaw.

“He was pretty messed up,” he said.

He described his son as a “larrikin”.

Alphonse’ mother, Ms Buckles said she did not know what had happened to cause her son to be hit by a car, but that she knew he would not deliberately jump in front of one.

Alphonse Ginn and mum Kylie Buckles. Photo: Kylie Buckles.

“It’s really complicated, because they had a few drinks and stuff but if Alphonse saw a car coming he would have jumped out of the way; he’s got quick reflexes,” she said.

She said she received several missed calls from her daughter Katherine, and was awoken by her brother in law who told her about the accident.

“Straight away I’m thinking ‘this is a dream’,” she said.

She said when she arrived on scene, all she saw were ambulances and police cars.

“(Katherine) was freaking out when I got there, she was like ‘no mum, you can’t see him.”

Alphonse was already loaded into the ambulance when she arrived.

Ms Buckles described her son as “very friendly” and “a family man”.

Car allegedly used in Gympie hit and run. Photo: Queensland Police.

On Tuesday, November 9, police released a photograph of a white Prado believed to be possibly involved in the hit and run and continue to appeal for information from the public.

A Queensland Police spokesperson said on Thursday no one had been charged in relation to the incident yet.

Originally published as Alphonse Ginn recovering in Royal Brisbane after Hilton Rd hit and run