Eastern Freeway tragedy families pay heartbreaking tributes to loved ones as trucker Mohinder Singh faces court
The families of four police officers who died in the Eastern Freeway tragedy have paid heartbreaking tributes after coming face-to-face with the trucker who killed them.
Victoria
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The families of the four police officers who died in the Eastern Freeway tragedy last April have come face-to-face with the trucker who killed them — to tell him how his “selfish” actions wrecked their lives.
Sharron MacKenzie, the partner of Senior Constable Kevin King, fought back tears as she was the first of many to read out their harrowing victim-impact statements in a Supreme Court hearing on Thursday.
The grief-stricken mother of three detailed how she had to tell their sons that their dad — “their hero” — would not be coming home after losing his life in “such a horrific and senseless way”.
“That night our lives had been turned into absolute turmoil,” she said. “We never thought anything like this would ever happen to us.”
She said Singh had killed “the most beautiful, caring, dedicated, devoted man who had the biggest heart of gold”.
It broke her heart even more to know she lost her life partner, who she met when she was just 13, in an incident “so careless and unjust” and occurred due to Singh’s “poor choices”.
“Since the day of the incident I’ve not allowed the man responsible for this crime … to have any part of my energy or being — he’s not deserving,” she said.
“His actions have taken Kevin away from us and have drained so much life out of my family.
“What little energy I have left both mentally and physically has been placed into honouring Kevin.”
Todd Robinson, the partner of Constable Glen Humphris, addressed his loved one’s killer directly, telling him: “Mohinder … you took the most important person away from me in the most violent way.”
He said he has a permanent image etched in his brain of the truck crushing and tearing his partner’s body apart.
“For the rest of my life, seeing a truck on the road is a constant reminder of the tragic and violent death my partner experienced,” he said.
Mr Robinson told Singh his actions had not only killed his partner, but destroyed his life.
“It’s now about protecting the wider community and raising awareness of the dangers of mixing drugs, fatigue and indeed a heavy vehicle,” he said.
Constable Joshua Prestney’s father Andrew revealed the moment he found out his son had died. He had seen the breaking news story on the TV that evening, and reached out to both his police officer sons to make sure they were OK.
“Alex answers. Josh’s goes through to message bank. ‘Mate, call us as soon as you can’,” he recalls.
“Time ticks. What’s going on? Confusion. A sense of dread. Starting to worry now. Time ticks. Nah, it can’t possibly be Josh. He’s only just starting at highway patrol.”
He said he started pacing the driveway, before going back inside.
“Sitting in the darkness in the front room of the house, time ticks. Belinda says, ‘There’s headlights outside the neighbour’s place’. I push past and run out to the car. Police step out. An officer. An inspector. All he says is, ‘Andrew, I am so sorry’. I fall to the footpath and scream, ‘No, not my boy’.”
His wife Belinda, Constable Prestney’s mother, said the pain and grief of losing her son was “visceral”.
“The disbelief and anguish over what I have lost has shattered my world,” she said.
“He was our everything, but there are now two significant days when our life changed forever, the day Josh was born and the day we lost him.”
She went on: “I have two images burnt into my mind that never leave me. The first is my baby son lying in his crib in hospital. I cannot take my eyes off him and I marvel at what Andrew and I have created and how beautiful he is.
“The second is that same beautiful son, 28 years later, lying in his casket. Again, I cannot take my eyes off him.
“He has the same beautiful face, but where is that smile that lights up a room? I cannot reconcile the two images.”
Stuart Schulze, the husband of Leading Senior Constable Lynette Taylor, recalled their adventures and travel together and how “she was always ready to help others”.
“In our 31 years together, we were never apart for more than 72 hours on only a handful of occasions,” he said. Now, all this is no more. My sons miss their mother. I miss my wife, my best friend, my soulmate.”
Emergency responders to the scene also revealed how they tried everything they could to save the officers.
Leading firefighter Geoffrey Brereton reassured their loved ones: “They were not alone.”
Police Association secretary Wayne Gatt said Singh’s crime had struck deep across Victoria Police. “It was a reminder of the enormous costs of a stranger’s actions,” he said.
SINGH GAVE ASSOCIATE DRUGS HALF AN HOUR BEFORE CRASH
A truck driver who killed four police officers on the Eastern Fwy had been doing drug deals between deliveries — and expressed concerns about his state to be driving to his boss only an hour before the deadly crash.
Mohinder Singh is facing a pre-sentencing hearing in the Supreme Court after he pleaded guilty to four counts of culpable driving causing the deaths of Leading Sen-Constable Lynette Taylor, Sen-Constable Kevin King, Constable Glen Humphris and Constable Josh Prestney.
The officers were killed on April 22 last year when a drug-addled Singh veered his truck into the emergency lane where they had stopped Porsche driver Richard Pusey for speeding.
The court heard Singh, 47, from Cranbourne, had slept only five hours in the past 72 hours and was seen drifting across lanes on the freeway in the lead up to the crash.
He had left the Connect Logistics depot in Lyndhurst at 4.52pm to do a chicken delivery in Thomastown.
Before leaving he spoke to Simiona Tuteru, his supervisor, telling him that he didn’t think he should be getting behind the wheel.
Singh said he was having “hard times” at home and had not slept.
But Mr Tuteru insisted he do the one delivery for him.
Singh signed a fitness to drive form before jumping in the truck.
Six minutes after leaving the depot he pulled up on Abbots Rd to supply methylamphetamine to an associate who got into the truck, took the drugs and got out again, with Singh then continuing on his journey.
CCTV along the route captured Singh’s truck “repeatedly drifting into the emergency lane” and crossing lanes without indicating.
He was tapping the brakes and travelling between 85-90kmh.
One motorist told police he turned to his mother who was travelling in the car with him and said: “This dude’s going to f---ing kill someone.”
At 5.36pm, Singh again veered into the emergency lane and ploughed into the police vehicles.
He did not attempt to brake or take evasive action.
The families of the four police officers killed have packed the courtroom to come face-to-face with their killer — and tell him how his “selfish” actions have changed their lives forever.
Sen-Constable King’s partner Sharron MacKenzie fought back tears as she detailed how she had to tell their two young sons that their dad would not be coming home after losing his life in “such a horrific and senseless way”.
“That night our lives had been turned into absolute turmoil,” she said.
“We never thought anything like this would ever happen to us.”
She said Singh had killed “the most beautiful, caring, dedicated, devoted man who had the biggest heart of gold”.
It breaks her heart even more to know she lost her life partner in an incident that was “so careless and unjust” and occurred due to Singh’s “poor choices”.
Emergency responders to the scene are also expected to give first-hand accounts on how Singh’s actions have impacted their lives, along with Police Association secretary Wayne Gatt.
The hearing comes a day after Pusey pleaded guilty to three charges including outraging public decency for his filming of the bodies of the officers with repugnant commentary in the aftermath of the crash.
He escaped injury in the crash as he had walked onto the verge to urinate.
Singh has also pleaded guilty to three charges of trafficking in a drug of dependence and one charge of possessing a drug of dependence.
The hearing, before Justice Paul Coghlan, continues.
Originally published as Eastern Freeway tragedy families pay heartbreaking tributes to loved ones as trucker Mohinder Singh faces court
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