The Night Watch: Victorian police relive hit-and-run death of Lynda Hansen
The tragic scene that greeted two first responders who rushed to the site of a tragic hit-run in Oakleigh that claimed the life of a much-loved nurse is one they’ll never forget.
Emergency Services
Don't miss out on the headlines from Emergency Services. Followed categories will be added to My News.
When police officer Leigh Miller’s phone buzzed just before midnight he had a gut feeling something had gone seriously wrong.
The Major Collision Investigation Unit member was in bed when his sergeant said there had been a two-car hit-run in October, 2017 – a woman was dead and a young man was on the loose.
“Something like this is not an accident,” he remembers thinking.
“You try and switch on, you know you’ve got to start making some decisions, you know that it’s a bad night and there’s more to this than just a collision that’s happened – (there’s) someone who’s run away from the scene.”
Filled with adrenaline, Senior Constable Miller drove to Oakleigh in Melbourne’s southeast and was met by a scene of carnage with two mangled car wrecks.
The victim never stood a chance and died quickly despite witnesses trying everything.
A shocked resident had briefly spoken to the dazed surviving driver, who he remembered had a distinctive boofy haircut before he ran away.
Sen Const Miller took his statement and police soon suspected their man was Sebastian Kennett, then 20, a no-hoper who had been involved in another fatal crash where a 16-year-old died years before.
Kennett was arrested three days later at a house after an extensive manhunt, cowering behind a cupboard in the dark.
“From that night, right through the whole process, I never saw any remorse, and that’s disturbing,” Sen Const Miller said.
The victim in the other car was cardiac nurse Lynda Hansen, 53, who had a special bond with her sister and spoke to her mother on the phone every day. Kennett was later jailed for 11 years over the crash.
LISTEN: Victorian Firefighter Rachel Cowling told The Night Watch she knew something was seriously wrong when she arrived at a fire and saw her colleagues running towards her while being chased by an axe wielding ice addict.
Sergeant Roz Wilson, who was there on the night, said she was left speechless by his actions.
“I just don’t know how somebody could leave someone like that, dying on the side of the road and not offer any assistance,” she said.
But, just like her colleague Sen Const Miller, she will be waiting for that next call when the rest of us go to bed.
“I have to change the phone’s ringtone sometimes,” Sgt Wilson says.
“If I hear that ringtone when I’m out on somebody else’s phone it does trigger for me, sometimes I have a thought process … (then) I realise I’m not on call.
“We wouldn’t be human if we didn’t start to think about our victims.”
Originally published as The Night Watch: Victorian police relive hit-and-run death of Lynda Hansen