Caesar Tilmouth sentenced to five years over Alice Springs fatal crash killing cousin-brother
The widow of a beloved Central Australian father has shared her grief with the court as a dangerous drunk driver faces his sentence for the horror crash.
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A Central Australian driver was almost five times the legal limit when he rammed head-on with another car, killing his relative and leaving his wife and a young man in a critical condition.
Caesar Tilmouth appeared before Justice Meredith Huntingford to plead guilty to dangerous, drunk driving causing the death of a man — known for cultural reasons only as Kumanjayi — and serious harm to a 44-year-old woman and a 29-year-old man on February 28, 2024.
The 54-year-old was found “highly intoxicated”, “dazed and confused” while sitting next to the wreck of a Holden Commodore sedan following a head-on crash in Alice Springs.
The Supreme Court heard that neither the driver Mr Tilmouth, nor his wife or his 54-year-old cousin-brother were wearing seatbelts as the car erratically drove through town that night.
“Clearly you were driving with no regard at all for the safety of your passengers and other road users,” Justice Huntingford said.
Witnesses to the horror crash said the Holden was driving down the wrong side of South Terrace moments before it collided head on with a Nissan Micra at 11.17pm.
Tilmouth’s wife and the 29-year-old other driver were taken to hospital both in a critical condition.
But paramedics were unable to save his cousin-brother with the 54-year-old dying at the scene.
Police said Tilmouth was in a “highly intoxicated state”, with a blood alcohol reading of 0.233 — almost five times the legal limit.
Kumanjayi’s widow said she and her children were devastated by the crash, saying her family was struggling without her husband’s care and assistance.
“(She) says how much she and her children loved Kumanjayi,” Justice Huntingford said.
“She is worried for her kids. She says that they are always thinking and crying for their father.”
“(She) says that you need to go to jail for a long time to think about your actions and how you have hurt their family.”
Justice Huntingford said Tilmouth should have known all too well the cost of road fatalities, having lost his own father to a car crash when he was just a child.
Despite his own personal tragedy, Justice Huntingford said the 54-year-old’s record was littered with traffic offences, with multiple disqualified, unlicensed and drunk driving offences.
“You are a person who does not pay any regard to road safety laws including in relation to driving and alcohol and you seem to have little regard for court orders,” she said.
On Friday June 20, Tilmouth was convicted and sentenced to five years and three months in prison, with a non-parole period of two years and six months.
His driving licence was also disqualified for six years.
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Originally published as Caesar Tilmouth sentenced to five years over Alice Springs fatal crash killing cousin-brother
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