Sarkis Nakhoul, 42, found guilty of dangerous driving causing death of Echuca woman

A jury has convicted a Sydney tradie of dangerous driving after he caused a fatal crash in Central Victoria that killed a 24-year-old Echuca woman.

Sarkis Nakhoul, 42, stands trial charged with dangerous driving causing death after he caused a fatal collision when failing to give way at the intersection in Toolleen. Picture: Gianni Francis/GoogleMaps

A jury has convicted a Sydney tradie of dangerous driving after he caused a fatal crash in

A jury has convicted a Sydney tradie of dangerous driving after he caused a fatal crash in

Central Victoria that killed a 24-year-old Echuca woman.

Sarkis Nakhoul was found guilty in the Bendigo County Court just after lunch on April 3, 2025 over the 2022 crash.

Nakhoul remains on bail and will return to Bendigo County Court on April 14 for a plea hearing.

Judge Mark Gamble said he would not give an indication if a custodial sentence was “likely or unlikely”.

Wednesday, April 2, 2025

A jury has begun deliberations in the dangerous driving trial of a Sydney tradie who caused a fatal crash that killed a 24-year-old Echuca woman.

Judge Mark Gamble sent the jury out at 1pm on Wednesday to decide if Sarkis Nakhoul‘s driving was dangerous when he failed to give way at a Toolleen intersection in November 2022 – or if it was just a tragic accident.

A Nissan X-trail collided with his car, causing the death of the passenger.

It was not disputed that Mr Nakhoul was driving, that he failed to give way, and that he caused the crash, Judge Gamble said.

The prosecution alleged Mr Nakhoul’s actions leading up to the crash was a “serious breach” of the proper control of a motor vehicle that exposed members of the public to an “over or above” risk of serious injury or death that the normal risk on the road which amounted to dangerous driving causing death.

The defence say it was merely a tragic mistake.

Judge Gamble told the jury that just because there was a collision did not mean that he was driving dangerously, with the law taking into account human error on the roads.

“Sometimes accidents happen for which no one will be criminally responsible,” he said.

Tuesday, April 1, 2025

The prosecution has argued a jury should convict a Sydney tradie of dangerous driving after he “took the life of an innocent person” in a fatal crash, but the defence argued it was just a tragic mistake.

The jury heard closing arguments in the trial of Sarkis Nakhoul, 42, on Tuesday in the Bendigo County Court charged with dangerous driving causing death after he failed to give way at the intersection of the Axedale-Toolleen Highway and the Northern Highway at Toolleen on November 5, 2022.

A 24-year-old Echuca woman died of her injuries following the collision.

Jurors were tasked with deciding if Mr Nakhoul had presented a “real danger” to others by a “serious breach of management or control of a vehicle” – which was more than a lack of due care, amounting to dangerous driving.

Sarkis Nakhoul, 42, stands trial charged with dangerous driving causing death after he caused a fatal collision when failing to give way at the intersection at Toolleen in Central Victoria. Picture: Gianni Francis.

Crown prosecutor David Cordy said “of course it was”, saying the driver had not been “keeping a proper lookout” and had failed in his “ultimate obligation” to give way and yield to the Nissan X-trail.

“Mr Nakhoul didn’t go out intending to kill someone that day – but he did … because his driving was dangerous,” Mr Cordy said.

Mr Cordy said Mr Nakhoul’s should have seen the oncoming car, pointing out that the accused’s claim that he was blinded by the sun before the crash couldn't be true because the angle of the sun being behind the driver at the time of the crash.

Mr Cordy argued there had been plenty of signage leading up to the intersection warning Mr Nakhoul to slow down and give way, but he didn’t.

Mr Cordy said the accused driver slammed on “emergency braking” seconds before the crash at 52km/h, travelling at 41km/h at the time of the collision, which indicated that Mr Nakhoul saw the car at the last moment before he could do anything to stop the collision.

“To approach at that speed … such that you’ve got no chance of stopping if you’re suddenly confronted by a vehicle is clearly dangerous – it’s just so clearly obvious,” Mr Cordy said.

Sarkis Nakhoul, 42, faced a jury at Bendigo County Court charged with dangerous driving causing death. Picture: Google Maps.

Mr Cordy said that anyone who didn’t think Mr Nakhoul’s driving wasn’t dangerous “wasn’t fit to be on our roads”.

But defence barrister Hayden Rattray argued that the law “doesn’t say if you fail to give way and someone dies you’re guilty” of dangerous driving.

He said that Mr Nakhoul should have slowed down, or stopped, but argued the driving didn’t meet the threshold of a “serious breach of the proper management of a vehicle”.

“In all the circumstances of this case, he has made a mistake,” Mr Rattray said.

“We know someone died, it’s a tragedy but it doesn’t mean the driving amounted to a serious breach

“We know he failed to see, but it doesn’t mean he wasn’t looking.”

He argued there was “inherent risk” at that intersection, which had been reflected in a reduction of the speed limit from 100km/h to 80km/h, and there was no evidence of Mr Nakhoul driving dangerously prior to the collision.

Mr Cordy said “so what?”, telling the jury that “it doesn’t matter one iota”, and what mattered was that Mr Nakhoul “wasn’t driving to the conditions”.

Mr Rattray argued that the victim had taken on a certain level of risk by entering a car on the road where events that “lead to tragedy” occur.

He said drivers were liable to make mistakes, fail to observe things or take inappropriate actions and people should expect to meet bad drivers because “people are only human beings”.

Mr Rattray said just because someone died, it didn’t mean Mr Nakhoul’s driving was dangerous, arguing his client “meant well, and he made a mistake”.

The jury will return on Wednesday for Judge Mark Gamble to give directions on deliberations.

Monday, March 31, 2025

A chippy who failed to give way at a Toolleen intersection, causing a fatal crash that killed a 24-year-old Echuca woman says he didn’t see an oncoming car because the sun was in his eyes.

The trial of Sarkis Nakhoul, 42, continued on Monday, with the jury viewing a Major Collision Unit detective interviewing the driver the day following the crash.

Mr Nakhoul had travelled to Central Victoria on a holiday with his mates, the court heard, and had been viewing a “drag race” earlier in the day.

Mr Nakhoul was driving back home to Wentworthville in Sydney and was unfamiliar with the road.

Mr Nakhoul failed to give way at the intersection of the Axedale-Toolleen and the Northern highways at Toolleen on November 5, 2022, resulting in a Nissan X-trail colliding with his car at 100km/h leaving the female passenger with fatal injuries.

“All I remember is; I was driving, I seen [sic] a give way sign, I slow down, I look to my left, to my right and there were no cars,” he said.

He said the car was a silver colour that was “camouflaged” by the sun and he “could not see it”.

He told the detective he struggled to remember the events after the collision.

“All I remember was a big bang”

He said he remembered calling triple-0 and emergency services arriving.

Mr Nakhoul said “it’s a bad intersection” telling the detective that locals had told him of several other “serious accidents” at the location.

Closing arguments are expected to start on Tuesday.

Friday, March 28, 2025

A jury will decide if a chippy was driving dangerously after he caused the death of an Echuca woman after failing to give way at an intersection east of Bendigo.

Sarkis Nakhoul, 42, pleaded not guilty at Bendigo County Court to a charge of dangerous driving causing death after failing to give way at the intersection of the Axedale-Toolleen and the Northern highways at Toolleen on November 5, 2022.

Mr Nakhoul, who lives in the Sydney suburb of Wentworthville, entered the intersection next to the Toolleen Hotel at about 41km/h when a Nissan X-trail travelling along the Northern Highway collided with the side of the accused driver’s Ford Ranger Raptor.

A 24-year-old Echuca woman died from her injuries after the crash.

The force of the crash smashed a wheel off the Ford Raptor and the suspension dragged along the road leaving a gouge in the road, the court heard.

A 24-year-old Echuca woman who was the passenger in the X-trail was left with life-threatening injuries that she died from in hospital several days later.

Mr Nakhoul tested negative for drugs and alcohol and was not on his phone at the time of the collision, the court heard, and there was no evidence the Nissan X-trail driver had broken any road rules in the lead up to the crash.

The prosecution argued the day was clear, there was no obstruction to the view of the ongoing car, and there were several instances of signage warning to give way.

Defence barrister Hayden Rattray said the defence is not disputing Mr Nakhoul was driving, or that the collision caused her death and accepted he failed to give way at the intersection, but argued the driver had simply made a mistake and his driving did not amount to a criminal offence.

The jury must find if Mr Nakhoul’s driving had created a risk “over and above the ordinary risks of the road” in order for him to be found guilty of dangerous driving causing death, Judge Mark Gamble said.

The trial continues on Monday at 11.30am.