Eastern Freeway tragedy: Truck driver Mohinder Singh says he relives crash ‘every single day’

The truck driver who killed four police officers on the Eastern Freeway has told a court he was sleep-deprived and did not want to drive before the horror crash, which he relives “every single day”.

The sleep-deprived truck driver who killed four police officers in the Eastern Freeway tragedy has revealed he “relives” the horror of the crash “every single day”, describing to a courtroom how he believed he was “cursed by a witch” prior to the collision.

Mohinder Singh, who has been sentenced to at least 14½ years behind bars for causing the deadly crash, was hauled into the Supreme Court on Tuesday to testify against Simiona Tuteru, 52, who was his supervisor at Connect Logistics.

Tuteru pleaded guilty in December to a single charge of failing to comply with a duty under the heavy vehicle national law.

While the offence carries a maximum penalty of five years’ jail, the court heard a fine and/or a community corrections order were within range for the former trucking boss.

Connect Logistics manager Simiona Tuteru. Picture: David Crosling

Prosecutor Matthew Fisher told the court Tuteru allowed Singh to drive a 19-tonne semi-trailer on the evening of April 22, 2020, despite the fact he “foresaw” that he was “unfit to drive”.

Half an hour after Singh left the Lyndhurst depot, he fell asleep behind the wheel of the truck and drifted into the emergency lane on the Eastern Freeway where Senior Constables Lynette Taylor and Kevin King and Constables Glen Humphris and Josh Prestney had pulled over Porsche driver Richard Pusey.

The four police officers were subsequently struck and killed.

The charge states that Tuteru, who had a “safety duty” under the heavy vehicle national law, engaged in conduct that exposed the four police officers and Singh “to a risk of death or serious injury” and that he was “reckless” as to that risk.

“The cruel irony is as the four police officers did their job dealing with Richard Pusey, Singh struggled to do his job (and) Tuteru failed to do his job and prevent Singh from getting behind the wheel of that truck,” Mr Fisher said.

Singh told the court, filled with the families of the fallen officers, he was sleep-deprived and did not want to drive the truck that fateful day.

“I still relive the whole thing every day in my head. I can’t get rid of it,” he said.

“Over and over and over again, every single day.”

He later added: “It’s not going to go away for the rest of my life.”

Family of the police killed in the Eastern Freeway crash arrive at the Supreme Court. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Singh, standing in the witness box in a grey tracksuit, said he drove to the Connect Logistics depot in his car that afternoon to have a conversation with Tuteru, arriving about 3.30pm.

“I hadn’t had any sleep, I was seeing things, I thought I was cursed by a witch and I was … traumatised from it,” he said.

“I wanted to see Simon about it because I know he was a pastor at a church.

“I was going to see Simon and tell him about my experience with the witch … and tell him that I hadn’t even slept because of it.”

He said after he told Tuteru about the witch, the trucking boss began to search his car for voodoo dolls or even hair because “witches leave things behind”.

After the search, Singh said Tuteru placed his hand on his head and uttered some phrases before he said: “In Jesus’ name, I cast this spell out of you.”

“After that, he basically said: ‘You’re right now’,” Singh said.

However, Singh told the court he did not feel any different after the prayer was complete.

Killer driver Mohinder Singh testified against his former boss. Picture: David Crosling

He said he was then instructed to complete “one more load” by Tuteru, who had purported to have lifted the curse.

But Singh conceded that at no point did he tell his boss he did not want to drive.

“I should have told him, though,” he said.

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.

The court heard he agreed to give evidence against Tuteru ahead of the appeal in a bid to secure a reduction in his sentence.

However, the former truck driver, who also admitted to taking meth in the lead-up to the collision, said he was not seeking to shift blame by testifying.

“I fully accept my wrongdoing,” he declared to the court.

“I shouldn’t have listened to him.”

Leading Senior Constable Lynette Taylor, Senior Constable Kevin King, Constable Josh Prestney and Constable Glen Humphris. Picture: David Geraghty

In text messages read to the court, Tuteru told a fellow member of his church moments after Singh had left the depot that he had preyed “salvation and deliverance with a driver”.

Mr Fisher argued that after Singh told Tuteru he “had not had any sleep”, the trucking boss should not have allowed him to get behind the wheel.

In reply, Tuteru’s defence barrister David Hallowes SC said the court could not be certain that Singh did say that to his supervisor, arguing he was not a reliable witness.

But Mr Fisher said Singh had not once “wavered from his position that he told Tuteru that he had no sleep”.

He added that Tuteru, who had worked in the transport and logistics industry his entire life, had also been warned by a fellow employee that afternoon that Singh should not drive.

But Mr Hallowes said the evidence did not support a conclusion that Tuteru “knew” Singh was unfit to drive at that time, but rather that he foresaw a possibility that there was that risk.

Senior Constable Alex Prestney with his brother Constable Josh Prestney. Picture: Supplied

The court also heard on Tuesday from the heartbroken family of Constable Prestney, with his brother Senior Constable Alex Prestney telling the court he sought to protect his brother.

“On the night I lost him, I felt like I wasn’t there for him and I couldn’t protect him,” he said, reading his victim impact statement.

“He died without dignity. He was helpless and there was nothing he could have done about it.”

He then glanced at Tuteru in the dock and declared: “You will take responsibility for this.”

Constable Prestney’s father Andrew said he had been robbed of his beloved son “all because some people didn’t think about other people”.

“I cannot stop thinking about personal responsibility,” he said.

“How is it that some people’s choices, or poor choices, have a catastrophic effect on others?”

His mother Belinda said he was “loved beyond words and missed beyond measure”.

“You don’t just lose someone once, you lose them everyday,” she said.

The victim impact statements written by the families of the other fallen police officers were tended to the court.

Tuteru was initially charged with four counts of manslaughter in August 2020.

But prosecutors dropped the manslaughter charges in October last year, indicating they would proceed with the charge under the heavy vehicle national law instead.

Singh previously gave evidence against Tuteru in July 2021 during a committal hearing when he was facing the manslaughter charges.

It comes as Cris Large, the national operations manager at Connect Logistics, was sentenced to three years behind bars for breaching his primary duty as an operator.

Connect Logistics and its director Corey Matthews were also fined more than $100,000 in November over a series of breaches uncovered by the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator.

Justice James Elliott will sentence Tuteru at a later date.