Richard Alexander Davis on trial in Lismore charged with manslaughter, dangerous driving occasioning death
A North Coast man is on trial accused of causing a crash that killed an elderly couple, but he says he suffered an epileptic seizure. Here’s the latest.
Police & Courts
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The trial of an “epileptic” Brunswick Heads man accused of causing a crash that killed an elderly couple on the North Coast has begun in Lismore.
Richard Alexander Davis, 32, has faced Lismore District Court charged with two counts of manslaughter and two counts of dangerous driving occasioning death.
He pleaded not guilty to all charges in February 2022.
Agreed facts tendered to the court state Mr Davis was driving a Nissan Juke which crashed into a Toyota HiLux on Mullumbimby Rd, 2km south of Mullumbimby, about 11.45am on September 1, 2019.
The driver of the HiLux, Peter Bolan, 80, was flown to Gold Coast University Hospital but he died several days later, while his wife Anne Bolan, 79, died at the scene.
The prosecution told the court Mr Davis says he lives with epilepsy and will defend the charges on the grounds he had a seizure that caused the crash.
On the morning of the incident, Mr Davis decided to go shopping at Woolworths and remembers pulling out of his driveway to go to Mullumbimby, Mr Davis said in a statement produced to the court by the Crown.
He stated his eyes were feeling “very sensitive to the light”, and the next thing he remembers was lying on the ground near the crash.
“That he had a seizure that day is his defence, that he had a history of seizures is his defence,” the Crown prosecutor said.
She said Mr Davis would argue he made an “honest and reasonable mistake” and there was not a “significant risk” that he would have another seizure on the road.
The prosecutor said Mr Davis reported to have a history of seizures and was at one time, years before the crash, ordered not to drive for 12 months.
The prosecution will have to prove beyond reasonable doubt the dangerous driving was wilful and Mr Davis was criminally negligent in his actions, amounting to manslaughter.
The Crown argued Mr Davis driving for 4.6 kilometres before the crash “inferred” the actions that led to two people’s deaths were “voluntary”.
Mr Davis is alleged to have driven on the wrong side of Mullumbimby Rd before the crash – avoiding an oncoming car, before moving his vehicle back into the wrong lane.
A witness alleged Mr Davis drove on the wrong side of the road for about 400 metres, accelerating throughout, before he collided with the Bolans’ vehicle.
Mr Davis was found to not have alcohol or drugs in his system at the time of the crash, the prosecution said, but he was on “heavy medication”.
A medical witness for the Crown said the prescribed drugs were “unlikely” to have had an adverse impact on Mr Davis’ driving.
Both the defence and the prosecution are set to call on a neurologist during the trial in relation to Mr Davis medical history and condition.
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