Francis Omigie in court for death of Francis Shanley after M4 car crash

A truck driver who crashed into an Irish tradie’s ute in a deadly multi-vehicle pileup during peak hour on “Death Valley” on the M4 had pot shortly before the fatality, a court has heard.

Joanne Vella

@Parramatta_News

4 min read

March 24, 2021 - 9:05PM

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A truck driver who allegedly had a high concentration of cannabis in his system before crashing into a ute in which Irish tradesman Franics Shanley died on the M4 at Mays Hill has given evidence in court.

On Tuesday, defence barrister Rajiv Baldeo told Parramatta District Court that truck driver Luke Tisdell was responsible for 36-year-old Mr Shanley’s death and not his client, Francis Omigie, who has been charged after an 11-car pileup near the Church St exit on May 9, 2019.

The horrific collision near the Church St exit on the M4. Picture: Steve Hart / Twitter @SteveHart10News

The truck driven by Mr Tisdell. Picture: Steve Hart/Twitter @SteveHart10News

Mr Omigie, 55, allegedly changed lanes in a rented green Toyota Echo before stopping and causing the pileup at 5.50am.

The Ropes Crossing man, who was on his way to work at St Peters, denies hearing the collision and allegedly drove away without rendering assistance.

He has pleaded not guilty to five charges including dangerous driving occasioning death.

Mr Baldeo told the jury Mr Tisdell was driving his beer keg truck too close to Mr Shanley to be able to stop, and had drugs shortly before the incident.

“The level of concentration of marijuana in his system would strongly suggest recent use, very recent use, perhaps even 30 minutes before the collision, and at the time of that collision Mr Tisdell was impaired because of his consumption of cannabis which was detected in his blood,’’ he said.

Francis Shanley died on the M4 about 5.50am on Thursday, May 9, 2019. Picture: Facebook

It’s alleged Francis Omigie’s Toyota Echo caused the M4 car crash that killed Francis Shanley.

During cross examination, the 34-year-old, who was driving the Isuzu truck with about 30 empty kegs onboard, said he had a cigarette and coffee the morning of the deadly crash when he was on a regular journey from his Winmalee home to the Toohey’s brewery at Lidcombe.

He did not recall having cannabis that day but said he regularly smoked joints.

“The weekend prior to the accident I would have consumed three joints on the Friday or Saturday the weekend before,’’ he said.

“I don’t like to think I do but I end up (smoking cannabis) on most weekends. Since I was young at school, when I was 15. Most Friday arvos I’m pretty keen to come home, have a drink and joints and Saturday me and my wife sit down and have a couple of joints — two, could be three, depends on how strong the stuff is, I guess.’’

Francis Shanley's fiancee Broc Nicholson leaves Parramatta District Court.

Francis Omigie has pleaded not guilty to the multi-car pile up that allegedly led to Francis Shanley’s death.

After the collision, he told the court “I was scared and not in a very good mental state. I just killed someone and I’m still not over it”.

The court heard the truck driver of 15 years had never had an accident and the Church St exit was “Death Valley”.

“The Church St intersection, it sounds bad to say, but we called it Death Valley,’’ he said.

“It’s self explanatory, there’s always accidents there and more often than not they’re serious.’’

The court was shown an image of Mr Tisdell’s truck mounted on the tray of Mr Shanley’s ute.

“There were cars everywhere,’’ Mr Tisdell said.

“There were cars, people walking around in a daze, there was stuff everywhere. That’s the only way I can describe it — like cars out to war.’’

Luke Tidsell leaves Parramatta District Court after giving evidence on Tuesday.

He got out of his car to rush to Mr Shanley’s ute when other drivers approached him.

“As soon as I got to Francis’s window someone grabbed me to try and take the truck off. I said ‘I can’t’. I started off with everyone looking at me like I hurt him.’’

He said an Asian woman hugged him and “a tradie walked over to me and said ‘I couldn’t stop mate so I had no chance’’ (of not colliding with Mr Shanley’s ute).’’

The court had earlier heard how Mr Omigie texted his wife an hour and a half after the collision to say “you are not the same Agnes I married. I had three near-miss accidents …’’

“He said there was nothing wrong,’’ Crown prosecutor Monica Knowles said.

“He had an argument with his wife the night before but he doesn’t let things like that worry him. He initially said there was nothing wrong with the car and when police asked him about the text message he sent to his wife about nearly having an accident he said he basically wrote that to get sympathy.’’

After the initial police interview when “nothing was wrong with the car”, Mr Omigie told police that he remembered the car “died yesterday,’’ Ms Knowles said.

The court heard from seven witnesses including Kawar Rentals owner Kashif Ali Kawar, where Mr Omigie rented the Echo from on February 23.