Michael Ryan faces court over fatal 2017 Yallah minibus crash
A man accused of dangerous driving occasioning a woman’s death at Yallah in 2017 will relive the events again, with his trial beginning at Wollongong District Court today.
Illawarra Star
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A man accused of dangerous driving occasioning a woman’s death at Yallah in 2017 will relive the events again, with his trial beginning at Wollongong District Court today.
Michael Ryan, 65, was the volunteer driver of a Warrigal Care minibus that partially crossed into the path of a fuel carrier on the M1 Princes Motorway at Yallah on January 25, 2017.
Ryan was transporting 10 people, including two Warrigal staff members and eight clients, to a picnic at Dapto when he allegedly steered the minibus into the same lane as a 17 tonne B-double truck carrying 50,000 litres of ethanol.
One of Ryan’s passengers Margaret Russell, 78, died at the scene after suffering several blunt force trauma injuries.
Day one of Ryan’s trial was heard at Wollongong District Court today under Judge Chris O’Brien.
Outside court, Ryan, who has pleaded not guilty to the charge of dangerous driving, said he “just wanted it [the trial] to be over”.
In its opening, the Crown argued Ryan’s driving at the time of the incident was “objectively dangerous”.
The defence, in its opening statement, told the jury Ryan had accepted responsibility for the accident that killed Ms Russell, and made reference to the fact he’d not had a traffic infringement since gaining his driver’s license in 1974.
The court also heard from Tony Foreshaw, the driver of the B-double truck that Ryan allegedly collided with on January 25, 2017.
On the day of the incident Mr Foreshore, who worked for Ron Finnemore Transport, said he was travelling from Bomaderry to Port Botany to deliver 50,000 litres of ethanol. He was travelling north on the Princes Motorway, just a kilometre south of the Dapto exit, when a “little bus clipped the front right side of the vehicle”.
The trial will recommence tomorrow morning, and is expected to last four days.
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