Eastern Freeway tragedy: Trucking boss Simiona Tuteru admits exposing police officers to ‘risk of death’

The boss of the truck driver who killed four Victoria Police officers in the Eastern Freeway disaster has admitted he “exposed” the officers to a “risk of death” as he pleaded guilty in court.

Former Connect Logistics manager Simiona Tuteru has pleaded guilty to a criminal charge. Picture: David Crosling

The trucking boss of the drug-addled driver who killed four police officers in the Eastern Freeway tragedy has pleaded guilty to a criminal charge, admitting he “exposed” the officers to a “risk of death”.

Simiona Tuteru, 52, stood in the dock of the Supreme Court on Wednesday where he entered a plea of guilty to a single charge of failing to comply with a duty under the heavy vehicle national law.

The court heard Tuteru, who had a “safety duty” under the law as a former manager at Connect Logistics, engaged in conduct on April 22, 2020, that “exposed individuals … to a risk of death or serious injury” and that he was “reckless” as to that risk.

Simiona Tuteru was initally charged with four counts of manslaughter. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

The charge was read aloud to Tuteru, with Senior Constables Lynette Taylor and Kevin King, Constables Glen Humphris and Josh Prestney and truck driver Mohinder Singh named as the five individuals he placed in harm’s way.

However, the court did not hear details of Tuteru’s “conduct” prior to the horror crash.

The former trucking boss was initially charged with four counts of manslaughter in August 2020 after it was alleged he permitted Singh, who was drug-affected and fatigued, to drive the 19-tonne semi-trailer the day he mowed down the four police officers.

The four police officers were killed instantly. Picture: Mark Stewart

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

The charge carries a maximum penalty of five years’ jail and a $300,000 fine.

Tuteru last week sought a sentence indication from Justice James Elliott to learn what penalty he would likely be handed if he pleaded guilty and did not proceed to trial.

By entering a plea of guilty, he has accepted the indication, but no details – including whether he will be sentenced to time behind bars – were aired in court on Wednesday.

It comes as Cris Large, the national operations manager at Connect Logistics, was on Monday found guilty of breaching its 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.

Senior Constable Lynette Taylor, Senior Constable Kevin King, Constable Josh Prestney and Constable Glen Humphris, were farewelled at a state memorial service. Picture: David Geraghty

But Tuteru, who now works as a maintenance repair man, almost avoided criminal prosecution altogether after Justice Lex Lasry in March made the rare decision of granting a “permanent stay” on the 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 in August ruled that his decision to place the case on ice should be overturned, paving the way for prosecutors to proceed with their case against Tuteru.

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”.

Truckie Mohinder Singh at the Supreme Court in 2021. Picture: David Crosling

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, had meth in his system, had slept for only five hours in three days and believed a witch was chasing him in the lead-up to the horror crash.

Tuteru will face a pre-sentence hearing on February 6, 2024, before he is sentenced at a later date.