Eastern Freeway tragedy: Trucking boss Simiona Tuteru could face trial after prosecutors win appeal

The trucking boss of the driver who killed four Victorian police officers in the Eastern Freeway tragedy could be forced to stand trial after a successful appeal by prosecutors.

Trucking boss Simiona Tuteru could now face trial after prosecutors were given the green light to proceed with their criminal case against him. Picture: David Geraghty

The trucking boss of the driver who killed four police officers in the Eastern Freeway tragedy could now face trial after prosecutors were given the green light to proceed with their criminal case against him.

Simiona Tuteru was charged with four counts of manslaughter in August 2020 after it was alleged he permitted Mohinder Singh to drive the day he mowed down Senior Constables Lynette Taylor and Kevin King and Constables Glen Humphris and Josh Prestney.

In October last year, prosecutors dropped the manslaughter charges against Mr Tuteru, indicating they would proceed with a single charge of failing to comply with a duty under the heavy vehicle national law.

But following an application by Mr Tuteru’s barrister David Hallowes, SC, Justice Lex Lasry in March made the rare decision of granting a “permanent stay” on the remaining charge.

He ruled that the court’s processes had been “used oppressively and unfairly by the Director of Public Prosecutions at various stages of this case”.

“Continuing four charges of manslaughter against the accused for more than a year in circumstances where it must have been known there was no viable case to be made against the accused is, I consider, a glaring and oppressive misuse of the court process,” he said.

But the Court of Appeal on Thursday ruled that his decision to place the case on ice should be overturned, paving the way for prosecutors to proceed with their case against the former supervisor for Connect Logistics.

Four Victoria Police officers were killed in the Eastern Freeway tragedy. Picture: Mark Stewart

Justices Jonathan Beach, Kristen Walker and Lesley Taylor, in setting aside Justice Lasry’s decision, ruled his finding of there being a “glaring and oppressive misuse of the court process” was “problematic”.

They said this was because his finding as to the discontinuance of the manslaughter charges rested upon “unsafe assumptions about the conduct of the prosecution”.

They concluded that while the conduct of the prosecution in this matter may have been “suboptimal and inefficient”, it was “far from oppressive”.

“The refinement and reconsideration of a criminal case is both commonplace and sound,” they said.

“Neither the past conduct of the prosecution nor the legal landscape of the indictment rendered this an extreme or exceptional case where the trial judge could do nothing in the conduct of the trial to relieve against its unfair consequences.”

In April 2021, Singh was sentenced to at least 18½ years behind bars after pleading guilty to four counts of culpable driving causing death, which was reduced to at least 14½ years on appeal.

Singh, who veered his truck into the emergency lane where the officers were standing, was drug-affected, had slept for only five hours in three days and believed a witch was chasing him in the lead-up to the horror crash.

While succeeding in its appeal, the Office of Public Prosecutions has not confirmed how it will proceed but the single charge of failing to comply with a duty under the heavy vehicle national law remains before the court and could result in a trial being held.

An OPP spokesman said the effect of the Court of Appeal’s decision is that the matter “can proceed”.

“In the circumstances, the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Office of Public Prosecutions have no further comment to make at this time,” he said.