Edward Niehus jailed for Eltham North crash on Wattletree Road

A truck driver left a couple seriously injured in a crash after driving recklessly through Eltham — and his actions afterwards were shocking.

Eddie Niehus has been jailed over the crash.

A truck driver left a couple seriously injured after he swerved across double lines and slammed into two oncoming vehicles, forcing their car down an embankment.

Edward Niehus, 44, was sentenced to a minimum of six months’ jail before Heidelberg Magistrates’ Court on Friday, January 15, having pleaded guilty to charges including two counts of recklessly causing serious injury without lawful excuse.

The career truck driver was unlicensed and had ice and alcohol in his system when he caused the serious crash at a bend on Wattletree Rd, Eltham North just after 1.30pm on November 28, 2018.

The couple’s Toyota Rav 4 was written off in the crash. Photo: Victoria Police

Minutes before the incident he and two other truck drivers ran a red light as children waited to cross a pedestrian crossing on Main Rd, Eltham.

Niehus was seen repeatedly swerving his heavy prime mover truck, which was towing crane parts, onto the wrong side of the road outside Eltham North Primary School.

He was just north of the school when he travelled too fast around a bend and hit the back of a Ford van, slamming head-on into a Toyota Rav 4, pushing the car — which had a married couple inside — over an embankment.

Niehus then tried to punch a witness who drove up to him at the scene and yelled at him.

Niehus screamed back and attempted to hit the man through his car window, then punched the back of the man’s car.

The truck Edward Niehus was driving when the crash occurred. Photo: Victoria Police

Niehus recorded a BAC of .016 at 3.10pm, despite being required to have a level of .00.

An ice pipe was found in the truck and Niehus’ licence had been suspended months earlier for drug driving.

The court heard Niehus had been driving trucks for almost 20 years, and had been running his own trucking business since he was 25.

Victim impact statements read to the court revealed a married couple Niehus injured had to spend eight weeks in hospital and many more in rehabilitation, with the pair having suffered “a horrendous loss of independence, dignity and privacy”.

Both were left with numerous broken bones and had to be in wheelchairs for periods, and continued to suffer psychological trauma in 2021, the court heard.

The prosecution argued it was “pure luck” that the victims hadn’t been killed.

It was heard Niehus had been jailed for charges including common assault, for which he was also on a community corrections order, since the crash.

Magistrate Martin said Niehus’ unacceptable actions called for a substantial jail sentence, but that his sentence had been reduced because of his early guilty plea.

Niehus was sentenced to a maximum of 14 months’ jail and was fined $3050.