Thomas Towle: Mildura hit-run driver charged with Bendigo drug driving

Thomas Towle, the hit-run driver who killed six teens in Mildura in a horror crash, says he “absolutely” understands new drug driving charges are a slap in the face to his victims’ families.

A hit-run driver who killed six teens in Mildura in a horror crash almost 20 years ago says he “absolutely” understands new drug driving charges are a slap in the face to his victims’ families.

Thomas Towle, 53, faced Bendigo Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday facing new drug driving charges.

Police pulled over Towle on the Calder Hwy near Bendigo at Derby while he was allegedly driving unlicensed.

Police allege Towle tried to change seats with a female passenger before he returned a positive roadside drug test to methamphetamine.

His car was impounded and his car was impounded.

In 2008 Towle was sentenced to 10 years in prison after he ploughed through a group of teenagers at Cardross just outside Mildura

In court on Wednesday, Towle indicated he would plead guilty to the charges when he returns to court in February.

Towle was sentenced to 10 years in prison after he ploughed through a group of teenagers at Cardross just outside Mildura on Saturday, February 18, 2006.

Shane Hirst, 16, his sister Abby, 17, Stevie-Lee Weight, 15, Cassandra Manners, 16, Cory Dowling, 16, and Josephine Calvi, 16 were killed and four others were seriously injured.

When asked outside of court on Wednesday if he understood how “heartwrenching” his alleged drug driving was for the families of his victims, he said “absolutely, of course”.

When asked if was going to stay off the road he said “yes, absolutely”.

In 2008 the court heard after seeing the devastation, Towle left his own young traumatised children and the bleeding teenagers and ran through vineyards to his house several kilometres away.

He was found guilty of six counts of dangerous driving causing death and four of dangerous driving causing serious injury and was sentenced to 10 years in prison with a non-parole period of seven years.

He was jailed again in 2021 for six months for a string of driving offences, thefts and burglaries after he was busted driving an unregistered orange Holden Commodore with a stolen number plate while on a learner’s permit without a driver with a valid licence.