Graham Squires: driver accused of triggering fatal M1 crash shaken by ‘ferocious’ fire
A man accused of triggering a fiery crash on the M1 at West Wollongong told police the sight of crash left him “devastated and weak at the knees”, as his trial continues in front of a Wollongong jury.
Illawarra Star
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The man accused of triggering a fiery crash on the M1 that killed an Illawarra couple told police the multi-car crash had “devastated” him, a court has heard.
Graham Squires, who is fighting two charges of dangerous driving occasioning death in the NSW District Court told police the crash on June 28 last year had “more than shocked” him.
A video of Squires interview with police was played to a jury on Tuesday, after a horrific six-car pile up that claimed the lives of John Cerezo and Catherine Camilleri.
“I’m devastated … im just devastated at what's happened and to see that car on fire … I just went weak at the knees,” he could be heard saying in the video.
“I thought what the f**k is going on … its more than shock … like f***ing hell.”
Squires, from Lansdowne, was driving a silver Ford Territory south on the M1, when it collided with a mack truck and dog trailer combination underneath the Mount Keira Road overpass about 2.10pm.
It’s the Crown’s case that the deadly chain of events was triggered after Squires allegedly cut the truck off as he changed lanes near the Figtree exit. They allege the driver of the truck, 42-year-old Albion Park man Jade Sinclair, braked to avoid a collision when Mr Cerezo’s Mitsubishi Pajero slammed into the back of the truck.
The Pajero was then hit from behind by an Isuzu truck which caused both vehicles to catch fire.
The 47-year-old Isuzu driver Girardo Massey was able to escape his vehicle without injury, but Ms Camilleri and Mr Cerezo were unable to do so, and were tragically incinerated in their vehicle.
In giving evidence on Tuesday, Mr Sinclair told the court he only realised he and Squires’ had collided with his vehicle when he felt a “bump” to the front of his truck.
“I hit my brakes … felt the bump, and propped myself up,” he said.
“As we’ve come to a stop the gentleman (Squires) got out of his car, I wound my window down and he said ‘you should have let me in’ … I said I didn’t even know you were there.”
Mr Sinclair denied the defence’s suggestion that he closed the gap between the vehicles as Squires’ changed lanes.
“Were you attempting to squeeze (Squires’) Ford Territory out so he couldn’t enter your lane,” Squires’ defence lawyer Luke Brasch asked.
“No,” Mr Sinclair responded. “I’m a pretty courteous driver, I’ve been doing it a long time.”
In taking the witness stand, Mr Massey, the driver of the Isuzu truck that ran up the back of Mr Cerezo and Ms Camilleri’s vehicle, said the crash happened “so quickly”.
“It’s hard to ascertain what happened,” he said. “I couldn’t have hit (the brakes) any harder … then there were flames in my passenger side … so much happened so little time.”
Another witness involved in the pileup provided a statement to the court, recounting a “loud bang” and the “fierce flames” that erupted from Mr Cerezo and Ms Camilleri’s vehicle.
“ I screamed at drivers and said ‘fire, fire there is a fire behind us’ and we all stopped further down the road,” the statement read. “We tried to help people inside but it was too late.”
Squires was taken back to Wollongong Police Station following the crash, where he participated in an interview which was played to the court on Tuesday.
In the interview Squires told police that he’d been visiting his father-in-law at a Woonona nursing home before heading south to the Shoalhaven Heads Tourist Park.
He told police that when he tried to merge across the lanes in front of the truck that he “felt safe”.
“I felt I was safe so I went across,” he said. “I was gauging it as I was going along … when I looked in rear vision, saw truck and saw car in front.”
When asked by police what he believed caused the collision, Squires could be heard saying “I honestly don’t know”.
Squires’ defence team is arguing that while their client may have “misjudged” the space he had to merge on June 28 last year, his driving was not enough to constitute the dangerous driving charge.
The trial continues.