Fadi Hirmiz: Edensor Park carpenter who cut corner on Bondi Rd left woman in coma

A split-second shock mistake on a busy Bondi street left a woman in a coma after a tradie driving to a job in the beachside suburb cut a corner without looking.

A tradie who collided with a woman crossing a busy Bondi street “prayed for her” after realising the tragic turn of events had left her with “long-term problems”, a court has heard.

The Edensor Park man – who was driving to an eastern suburbs site he had visited about 10 times in the past – told the court through his lawyer Leonardo Premutico he had been driving “the way I always do” when his car collided into a woman aged in her 60s.

Fadi Hirmiz, 30, was found guilty of negligent driving which caused grievous bodily harm to a pedestrian at Waverley Local Court on Friday. He had pleaded not guilty.

According to alleged facts tendered to court, Hirmiz crashed into Jeanine Maunsell about 7.30am on December 18 2020 while she walked across a pedestrian crossing when the crossing light was red.

The carpenter was travelling along Bondi Rd at about 30km/h when he attempted to turn into Denham St, the court heard; an act which led to the tragic turn of events.

Hirmiz leaving Waverley Court.

Mr Premutico told the court Hirmiz had not drunk the night before as he knew he was getting up early for the job, and was not running late.

“This is a case, in my respectful submission, that is tragic and an accident,” Mr Premutico said.

The carpenter was sentenced at Waverley Local Court.

But police prosecutor sergeant Paul Henningham argued negligence had been proven through CCTV footage shared by nearby pub the Royal Hotel and State Transit bus that appeared to show Hirmiz cutting a corner and hitting Ms Maunsell while she was in the middle of the road.

Footage played in court showed the carpenter following a motorbike into the intersection and hitting the woman at the crossing.

“He hasn’t given way to a pedestrian on the road,” Sergeant Henningham said.

Hirmiz told the court during questioning he had tried to avoid the woman when he realised she was in his path but “it was too late”.

The court heard from Hirmiz and the police prosecutor before sentencing.

“When I turned my face back, I saw myself crashing the pedestrian,” he told the court.

“I stopped the car, and I prayed for the pedestrian to be alive.”

Magistrate Jacqueline Milledge told the court it was ridiculous to expect on a busy intersection in Bondi that drivers should not expect there to be pedestrians who are not doing “the right thing.”

The magistrate noted Ms Maunsell had shared her experience of waking up in a hospital room from a coma and the injuries that left her with “long-term problems”.

Magistrate Milledge noted Hirmiz had expressed distress at the horrifying turn of events.

However the magistrate said she found the man “did something a reasonable or prudent driver would not do” by striking Ms Maunsell in the middle of the road.

“If he had been keeping a lookout, he would have seen a pedestrian on the road,” she said.

Magistrate Milledge found Hirmiz guilty and sentenced him to a 12-month conditional release order without conviction.