Truck crash victim’s boyfriend had planned proposal before tragedy

AARON Roberts was planning a marriage proposal, but ended up slipping the ring on his girlfriend’s finger at her funeral after she was tragically killed.

Danielle was killed when she was hit by a truck on November 8, 2016. Picture: Facebook

THE partner of a young woman killed while crossing a road has told a Sydney court how he was planning a surprise wedding proposal when she died.

Instead, Aaron Roberts placed a diamond ring on 26-year-old Danielle McGrath’s finger at her funeral, two weeks after she died on her way to work in November 2016.

“I lost the brightest part of my day, my best friend and my future wife,” an emotional Mr Roberts said in the NSW District Court on Thursday.

Danielle McGrath and her partner Aaron Roberts.

Mr Roberts was planning a surprise wedding proposal. Picture: Facebook

Mr Roberts read his victim impact statement at a packed sentence hearing for David William Edward Grice, 60, who last year pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death.

Crown prosecutor Georgia Turner said the truck driver collided with Ms McGrath after running a red light at an intersection in Caringbah, in Sydney’s south.

Mr Roberts arrived at the scene to see his partner of almost six years covered by a sheet with her handbag and belongings strewn across the road.

He said he would never forget the face of the police officer who confirmed to him it was Ms McGrath.

David Grice’s sentence hearing continues. He has pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death. Picture: Peter Rae/AAP

Grice is facing a sentence hearing at NSW District Court over the 2016 collision.

Prosecutor Georgia Turner on Thursday said Ms McGrath died after Grice turned right and drove through an intersection, having disobeyed a red right arrow signal.

The hearing continues.