Cronulla crash victim Gai Vieira’s family keeps bedside vigil as grandmother remains in coma
GRANDMOTHER Gai Vieira, and wife of well-known racehorse owner Bert Vieira, remains in a coma after being seriously injured when her Mercedes was struck by a police car in Sydney’s south, her family has revealed.
NSW
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POLICE have enlisted a top crime detective from outside Cronulla to investigate a horror crash in the suburb that left a grandmother in a coma after a police car slammed into her vehicle.
The family of Gai Vieira — the wife of prominent racehorse owner Bert Vieira — has revealed she is in a coma as they maintain a bedside vigil.
Ms Vieira was turning right onto a Cronulla intersection when the senior constable’s patrol car ploughed into her Mercedes on September 5.
A critical incident investigation is looking into whether the officer was speeding and if he activated his lights and sirens as he tried to pull over a third motorist on a mobile phone before the collision on the Kingsway.
The critical incident probe is being headed by Surry Hills crime manager Detective Chief Inspector Craig Middleton, who is based outside the senior constable’s policing area.
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Professional Standards Command and the Law and Enforcement Commission also have oversight — a sign of how seriously NSW Police is handling the incident.
Ms Vieira’s daughter, Cassie Vieira-Choy, took to Facebook on Sunday to offer a heartfelt thanks to supporters and medical teams at St George Hospital.
“As my beautiful Mum is still in a coma, fighting for her life, I want to thank you all for the support,” she wrote. “The love and well wishes from family, friends and the public has been simply overwhelming.
“We cannot sing higher praises for the amazing doctors and nurses here at St George Hospital, we have no doubt she is in the best hands possible. “We are trying to keep people updated as best as we can. As we all sit by her side praying we are still at a loss as to how this occurred.”
NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Michael Corboy confirmed on Thursday the patrol car was pursuing the third vehicle, but he did not say if the officer had radioed this information back to a control room or if he activated his lights and sirens.
“We have very strict rules around our safe driver policy,” he said.
“They are about pursuits and about urgent duty. There is a difference between both, and this would have been communicated to our radio room, but it’s also recorded on the police radio and within the vehicle in a number of different technologies in the car. That will be subject to the investigation.”
He declined to comment on the details of the investigation, but said investigators had spoken with the Vieira family.
“We know those details in there, but we have to be fair to everyone involved and we need to speak to everyone involved and we need that information to make those statements,” he said.