Double blow for family who lost son in crash and then were ‘gagged’

The distraught family of a budding tennis coach killed in a car crash has copped a second blow after the driver – who had all her charges dropped over the deadly smash – took them to court.

Budding tennis coach Corey Rapson was killed in a crash in Windsor in 2018. Photo: Supplied

The distraught family of a budding tennis coach killed in a car crash has copped a second blow after the driver – who had all her charges dropped over the deadly smash – took them to court.

AFP officers knocked on the door of Corey Rapson’s parents after the woman who was behind the wheel in the collision that claimed their son’s life sought to stop them from speaking out about her.

Jim and Susie Rapson were forced to travel from their Canberra home to face Moorabbin Magistrates’ Court three times over a Personal Safety Intervention Order application brought by the driver, who rolled through red lights and into oncoming traffic in Windsor in June 2018.

Her passenger, Corey, 25, died three weeks later of his injuries.

Jim, Hayley and Susie mark four years Corey’s death in a car crash in Windsor. Picture: Nigel Hallett

The Rapsons agreed to a one-year undertaking – since expired – banning them from naming the driver, speaking out in the media and online.

But the ordeal has left the family feeling frustrated.

“You shouldn’t be able to use this method to keep a grieving family quiet,” Mr Rapson said.

“She’s been able to become the victim somehow.”

The woman behind the wheel initially pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death over the crash that claimed the life of Corey, a business analyst and talented tennis coach who was about to jet off to work overseas.

But she withdrew her plea amid fresh expert evidence, which couldn’t rule out that she’d suffered a rare fainting spell.

Prosecutors then dismissed the charges against her, devastating the Rapson family.

Mr Rapson recently wrote to the Office of Public Prosecutions urging new director Brendan Kissane KC to launch a fresh probe into the “grossly mishandled” case under former director and now Supreme Court judge Kerri Judd KC.

Corey Rapson died three weeks after being injured in a crash in Windsor. Picture: Supplied

He questioned the driver’s claim of neurocardiogenic syncope, or fainting, before her car drove across six lanes of traffic against red lights and was T-boned by a 4WD.

Mr Rapson said his family “do not agree and will never agree with this questionable medical excuse”.

But in a response earlier this month, Mr Kissane said he’d reviewed the file with the medical and expert evidence and agreed with the earlier decision to dismiss charges as the case “no longer carried reasonable prospects of conviction”.

An OPP spokeswoman told the Herald Sun that the director “has reviewed the decision to discontinue the prosecution” of the driver and “found it was correctly arrived at”.

Despite the ruling, the Rapson family continues in their fight for their son and brother and are currently raising money for a new Trauma Resuscitation and Diagnostics Suite at the Alfred.

A lawyer for the driver did not respond to an inquiry from the Herald Sun.