Brendon Paul Lidgard not guilty after girl dies at Menanagle rest stop on Hume Highway

A truckie who crashed into a rest stop on the outskirts of Sydney, killing a child, has been found not guilty after the diabetic suffered an episode following inferior treatment from his doctor, a court has heard.

Truck driver Brendon Paul Lidgard has been found not guilty after his Boral vehicle struck an eight-year-old girl on the Hume Highway at Menangle on July 10, 2020.

At Parramatta District Court on Friday, following a long judge-only trial that began in March, Mr Lidgard was found not guilty of 11 charges including dangerous driving occasioning death and three counts of dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm.

The mother of the victim broke down in tears after leaving the courtroom where Judge Andrew Colefax delivered his verdict, more than two years after they were travelling from Forster on the NSW mid North Coast to Canberra and stopped at the Partridge VC Rest Area.

Mr Lidgard’s cement truck mounted a median strip on the highway before it hit a tree, a sign and a picnic table and crashed into three parked cars.

He injured three adults and killed the girl, who was at the rear of her parents’ car and about to get inside the vehicle when she was struck at 3pm.

Brendon Paul Lidgard has been found not guilty after his truck crashed into a rest stop.

Brendon Lidgard’s diabetes was not treated properly by his GP, a court heard.

Justice Colefax told the court Mr Lidgard, who has had type 1 diabetes since he was in Year 12, suffered hypoglycaemic unawareness after inappropriate treatment from his GP, Dr Stephen Helme.

“Mr Lidgard suffered from hypogleycmic unawareness as of July 10, 2020, but he had not been informed of this by Dr Helme,’’ he said.

He said the doctor provided “suboptimal treatment of Mr Lidgard’s treatment of type one diabetes”.

He found Dr Helme did not regularly test his patient’s blood sugar levels or refer him to an endocrinologist for treatment. He said he found his evidence unreliable.

One of Mr Lidgard’s last memories before the fatality was at the Narellan Rd underpass and dosing up on six units of insulin at Uncle Leo’s Roadhouse at The Crossroads, Glenfield about 2.40pm.

Drivers noticed he began driving erratically after driving the Narellan Rd and saw his B-double truck enter the breakdown lane.

The court heard earlier that the erratic driving with consistent with the severe “hypo”.

Outside court, the girl’s devastated parents expressed frustration over the verdict for their daughter.

“We were hoping for a different outcome but obviously this case was a complicated one because there were a lot of contributors to how it had happened,’’ her mother said.

The girl’s mother called her daughter a “joyful soul”.

“She was an artist, a singer, she was a happy kid.”

The matter will return to court on October 17 when minor charges, including driver not record prescribed information in written work diary, will be heard.

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