Kiesha Thompson’s family speak a year on from alleged hit-and-run murder

Three words that alleged hit-and-run murder victim Kiesha Thompson will never hear her baby girl say will forever haunt the young mum’s family.

How it unfolded

The family of a young mother who was allegedly murdered after dropping her daughter off at daycare have told of their heartbreak that she will never get to hear her child say “I love you”.

Kiesha Thompson, 23, was just 300 metres from home when police allege she was deliberately struck by a four-wheel drive on a footpath along Allamanda Drive, Daisy Hill on July 19, 2024.

She had just dropped her daughter off at Daisy Hill Early Learning Centre. Kiesha was rushed to hospital with critical injuries but died later that night.

Kiesha’s ex-boyfriend and the father of her child Tyler Scott William James and his girlfriend of five months Larissa Rita Mae-Leigh Sant were both charged with murder.

Now, her family have spoken for the first time about the “bittersweet” reality of raising Kiesha’s daughter as their own.

“(Kiesha) became the best version of herself once she had (her daughter),” Kiesha’s aunt Amanda Matthias said.

Ms Matthias, who has two children of her own, said she was now co-guardian of the little girl alongside with Kiesha’s sister Keyara Thompson.

“My kids are like siblings to her now … I’m so proud of them, how much they have taken on that role,” she said.

“(Kiesha’s daughter) was 18 months (old) when it happened … it’s bittersweet because she was too little to remember.”

Kiesha Thompson.

Ms Matthias said the little girl, who turned 2 last November, was “thriving” and now using “full sentences”.

“The saddest thing is that Kiesha doesn’t get to see this personality that has flourished, her little voice saying ‘I love you’ and singing all the time.”

“She is the spitting image of her mother,” Keyara added.

Ms Matthias said they would eventually put Kiesha’s daughter into play therapy.

Keisha Thompson’s sister Keyara Thompson and her aunt Amanda Matthias. Picture: Liam Kidston

“We have told her that ‘mummy’s in heaven’, ‘mummy’s watching over you’ but we haven’t touched on it too much because we didn’t want to confuse her,” she said.

“She’s too little … she doesn’t know what’s going on … but she’s lost both parents”

Kiesha’s mum Sarah described her as “the best mum”, who did everything for her daughter and the betterment of her life.

“Keisha was just becoming the best version of herself starting a life for her and her daughter,” she said.

“Her strength and resilience had me proud.”

Ms Matthias said Kiesha and James were together for about a year and a half and broke up six months before her alleged murder.

Larissa Sant. Picture: TikTok

Tyler Scott William James. Picture TikTok

James then started a new relationship with Sant a month later.

“It happened so quickly, (Kiesha) met him, she’d been out a couple of times and then like a week or two later I came home from work and I said ‘are you cleaning your room?’ and she said ‘No, I’m packing up, moving in (with James)’,” Kiesha’s mum Sarah Torto said.

“I grilled her about him and said I needed to meet him but that was it.”

Ms Matthias said Kiesha, who was previously a stay at home mum, had finally obtained her driver’s licence a week before her alleged murder and dreamt of becoming a painter.

“Getting (her daughter) into daycare was the hardest thing (Kiesha) had done to that point … she just didn’t want to let her go,” Ms Torto said.

A court previously heard that Sant allegedly ran down Kiesha in a silver Toyota Prado at the instigation or with the encouragement and assistance of her co-accused James.

Sant was granted bail in December last year while James remains behind bars. 

Keisha Thompson’s mum Sarah Torto. Picture: Liam Kidston

While Sarah said: “once everything starts to sink in, you think ‘oh my god, she’s out’.”

Sant allegedly searched Facebook Marketplace for a similar model Prado then used those licence plates when she allegedly ran down Thompson, and later changed them back. 

She allegedly put the number plates on the Prado two days before the murder, swapping the plates in a shopping centre car park, then repeated this again on the 17th.

The Crown alleges James counselled Sant to murder the 23-year-old so he would gain full custody of their young daughter.

“This was a plan to end a life,” crown prosecutor Michael Lehane previously said in court.

The Crown alleges that James previously made threats to Kiesha, wanted her “maimed” and “would be willing to pay per limb”. “In terms of that desire to kill, we have very distinct comments within the threats, as recorded by witnesses, of a clear preference that his partner no longer be on this earth,” Mr Lehane said.

Police at the Daisy Hill street where Kiesha Thompson was allegedly murdered.

This includes allegedly telling his brother Lachlan James in May 2024 that he “would be happy if she was dead and life would be easier if she was gone.”

“The allegations are concerning, on the Crown case this was a planned offence which has been planned for some time, two months of events involving the applicant counselling procuring or recruiting his new partner to run down his ex-partner in the context of … ongoing animosities he had towards his ex partner” Mr Lehane said. 

James’ barrister Matt Hynes previously told a court that the wholly circumstantial case against his client had flaws and there were triable issues.

“There is no direct evidence of any plan to kill or any instruction to that effect,” he said.

During a search of James’ Acacia Ridge home police allegedly found a face mask, gloves and vehicle stickers in the bin consistent with those that had been stuck to the Prado.

Sarah was the first family member notified of the crash. 

“I don’t answer calls that I don’t know the number for so I actually didn’t answer the first (call), but I don’t know, they called back so quickly and normally when they do that … I just had that feeling that ‘you should answer this’, so I did,” she said. 

“After that, it’s all a bit of a blur. 

“I know the first question I asked on that phone call was about (Kiesha’s daughter). 

“I said ‘I don’t understand what’s happening, where’s my granddaughter’ … that was about the only relief we got that day, that she was already dropped off at kindy.” 

Speaking about the last year, Ms Matthias said: “our lives have been turned upside down, inside out … I’m still in survival mode”. 

Originally published as Kiesha Thompson’s family speak a year on from alleged hit-and-run murder