Eastern Freeway tragedy: Family feared driver Mohinder Singh would ‘kill someone’ on the road
The daughter of a driver jailed for killing four police officers on a freeway feared he would kill someone on the road, a court has heard.
Family feared Eastern Freeway crash driver Mohinder Singh would kill someone on the road, a court has been told, as his boss faces manslaughter charges over the horror crash.
Simiona Tuteru is facing 82 charges, including four counts of manslaughter, in relation to the crash that killed Senior Constables Lynette Taylor, Kevin King and Constables Glen Humphris and Joshua Prestney in April 22 last year.
The officers were killed after they stopped to pull over Richard Pusey, who was clocked speeding at 149km/h in his black Porsche. He was urinating on the side of the road and avoided being hit.
The 49-year-old trucking manager at Connect Logistics appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Monday for a committal hearing, with his lawyers arguing there was not enough evidence for a trial.
Police allege Mr Tuteru should never have allowed Singh behind the wheel on the day of the crash.
Singh’s daughter Harpreet Bajwa told the court on the day of the fatal crash she was scared of how her father was acting.
“The way he was acting that day scared me, and I thought he was going to kill someone if he drove,” Ms Bajwa told the court.
“His eyes were racing, his pupils were bigger and he seemed pretty terrified and couldn’t stop speaking.”
She said there was “something wrong with him that day”.
The young woman said she hadn’t seen her dad take any drugs, but in the months before the shocking crash he didn’t seem to be getting sleep.
Instead, he would spend hours on the phone after finishing a shift, Ms Bajwa said.
She also said her dad called her mum in the moments after the crash.
The court was told that prosecutors would call the truckie as a witness in the case against his boss.
The trucking manager’s lawyer David Hallowes SC said he was told Singh was going to be a witness last week, and he needed more time to prepare to quiz the driver.
Singh’s credibility and reliability would be an issue, the court was told, and Mr Hallowes wanted to cross-examine him in relation to his claims.
Up to 22 witnesses are expected to give evidence in the week-long hearing, and Singh is expected to be questioned in June.
The drugged-up truckie was jailed for 22 years this April after pleading guilty to four counts of culpable driving causing death and drug offences.
“The police officers had no hope,” Justice Paul Coghlan said in his sentencing remarks.
The hearing in front of Magistrate Luisa Bazzani will continue on Monday afternoon.