Lachlan Stuckey: Victims’ families issue emotional impact statements in triple-fatal crash sentence hearing
The families of three people killed as a result of one man’s decision to drive recklessly have confronted him in court, airing emotional impact statements saying he had “stolen” the victims’ futures.
The grieving parents, grandparents and friends of three people killed as a result of one man’s decision to drive recklessly have confronted him in court, airing emotional victim statements saying he had “stolen” the victims’ futures.
They include the mother of an 18-year-old killed in the horrific July 2024 Tarago crash who said to Lachlan Stuckey, 22, “not a day has gone by in the last 495 days that I haven’t cried”.
Stuckey veered off an intersection of Bungendore and Collector roads in Tarago where he killed his girlfriend Charlie Quinn, 18, and two mates Brooke Sorlie, 21, and Aaron French, 20, after a weekend away.
The group was travelling from Canberra to Shoalhaven when the tragic crash occurred.
Emergency services found Ms Sorlie, Ms Quinn and Mr French dead at the scene, whilst Stuckey managed to escape the wreckage with non-life threatening injuries.
Stuckey previously pleaded guilty to three counts of negligent driving occasioning death, and one count of driving with a suspended licence whilst also having MDMA in his system.
In his sentencing hearing in Goulburn Local Court, Charlie Quinn’s families and friends aired their profound grief.
Ms Quinn’s father said he will “never heal from this”.
“I’m still yet to understand the thoughts and impacts of what has happened,” he said.
“These are the thoughts and daily nightmares no parent should have to deal with.”
Her grandparents said the call they received was “devastating”.
“Tragedies such as this usually bring families closer together, but unfortunately, this is not always the case,” they said.
“The events of 24th of July has completely fractured what remains of my family.”
Her grandmother sobbed as she spoke about the Christmas lunches, engagements, weddings or the announcement of forthcoming great-grand children that they would never see realised.
Charlie’s grandmother stated that “we were denied because of one person’s thoughtless actions, one person who thought they were above the law, who thought they were untouchable”.
“One person that was sleep-deprived with no license and drugs in his system, he took not only our Charlie Rose, but two of her young friends as well.”
Ms Quinn’s heartbroken mum Ricky said it was “excruciating” to write an impact statement whilst dealing with Stuckey’s “disgusting, mindless, careless and thoughtless actions” which had altered “every thread of (her) existence”.
“She was my first born child and my only daughter,” she said.
She spoke about the horrific experience of getting her daughter’s jewellery back from Goulburn Hospital morgue after the crash.
“I removed her jewellery, only to find it was covered in coagulated blood… washing it away was an absolutely heartbreaking task I should never have had to do,” she said.
She shared the experience of saying goodbye where “they placed her lifeless hand from under the sheet for me to hold in a cold hospital”.
“That was my last encounter with my beautiful daughter who went from being a perfect, able body to being broken and disfigured.”
Charlie's best friend, Isabelle, said “the weight of her absence hits me so hard I can’t breathe”.
“Grief has touched every part of my life,” she said.
She described how there were many other friends that “carry the same heartbreak”.
“I hope you remember her not just as a victim, but as someone who mattered deeply, endlessly to those of us who are still learning how to live without her.”
The last victim statement included a 51-year-old nurse who came upon the scene.
“We came over the hill to absolute mayhem… I remember young kids crying and saying, ‘they are our mates and please help us’,” she said.
“I remember hearing the driver [Stuckey] call out for Charlie, and then I realised in horror there was still another one trapped.”
As a nurse she described the weight of not being able to help.
“We tried so hard to save them, I feel so much guilt that we could not save them.”
The other two victim's families of Brooke Sorlie and Aaron French did not read out victim impact statements.
Judge John Pickering SC will hand down Stuckey’s judgment on Monday at Goulburn Local Court.
Got a story? Email Hannah.farrow@news.com.au
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Originally published as Lachlan Stuckey: Victims’ families issue emotional impact statements in triple-fatal crash sentence hearing
