Man arrested at Brisbane Airport after fatal car crash on the Tweed Valley Way
A 52-year-old man will be extradited to NSW after a dramatic arrest at Brisbane International Airport as he tried to leave the country after allegedly fleeing the scene of a crash in which a motorcycle rider died.
QLD News
Don't miss out on the headlines from QLD News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A 52-year-old man will be extradited to NSW after a dramatic arrest at Brisbane International Airport as he allegedly tried to leave the country following a fatal crash on a northern NSW highway.
Graham Belcher was arrested at 2am on Tuesday at Brisbane International Airport and appeared in Brisbane Magistrates Court this morning but did not apply for bail.
NSW detectives applied for and were granted an extradition order today.
Police allege Belcher was preparing to board a flight to Hong Kong when he was stopped at the airport, less than a day after the incident in which a male motorcyclist died and a second was injured.
Belcher is alleged to have been driving a car that was involved in a crash with two motorcycles at the intersection of Riverside Drive and Tweed Valley Way at Tumbulgum, just before 3.30pm on Monday afternoon. Police allege he then fled the scene.
A car believed to be involved with the crash was located in Terranora on Tuesday afternoon. It has been seized for further examination.
A NSW Police media spokeswoman confirmed he was detained at Brisbane airport.
“Police arrested him prior to boarding a plane at Brisbane Airport,” she said.
Belcher had lived in the Tweed region for more than a decade, briefly returning to the U.K before returning to the area in 2014.
Adam Battis told The Gold Coast Bulletin he played soccer with Belcher at Bangalow about 10 years ago.
He said the pair had fallen out of touch “years ago” and was unaware of the accident.
“I haven’t seen him in maybe five years, I stopped hanging out with him,” Mr Battis said.
It is understood Mr Belcher had worked as a front-of-house manager at a local eatery.
One passer-by told the Tweed Daily News there was a lot of blood on the road when they drove past the accident.
In a statement this morning, NSW Police confirmed they were applying to extradite Belcher back south of the border.
“As the result of a joint operation between the Crash Investigation Unit, Traffic and Highway Patrol Command, Tweed Byron Police District officers, Australian Federal Police, Australian Border Force and Queensland Police – a 52-year-old man was stopped just before 2am at Brisbane Airport as he was preparing to board a flight to Hong Kong,” NSW Police said.
A NSW warrant of apprehension, tendered in court, said a court notice had been filed in respect of seven offences allegedly committed by Belcher, who is from Ocean Shores, in New South Wales, at Tumbulgum, NSW, on Monday.
They included dangerous driving occasioning death, failure to stop and assist after vehicle impact causing death, negligent driving causing death, causing bodily harm by misconduct, while in charge of a vehicle, driving while licence is cancelled, failure to give way to a vehicle and driver failing or refusing to disclose identity.
He will appear at Tweed Heads Local Court on Wednesday.
Originally published as Man arrested at Brisbane Airport after fatal car crash on the Tweed Valley Way
‘Holy s***’: Qld man gets life-changing $60m call
A South East Queensland man has told how he was drifting off to sleep, daydreaming about how life-changing winning the lotto could be, when he received the incredible call to tell him he’d done just that.
‘Shoe print on his head’: Family of teen bashing victim speak out
An evening walk to grab an ice cream took a shocking turn for a couple of Gold Coast teens, allegedly brutally bashed in a gang attack and left with shocking injuries. Now their parents have revealed the devastating toll.