Man charged over fatal crash as family mourns woman’s tragic death

Relatives of a 36-year-old woman killed in a horror smash on Trower Rd yesterday are grieving her loss as the 21-year-old driver accused of causing the crash recovers from his injuries in hospital.

• Crash that claimed woman’s life in Alawa overnight followed a pursuit, police confirm

RELATIVES of a 36-year-old woman killed in a horror smash on Trower Road yesterday are grieving her loss as the 21-year-old driver accused of causing the crash recovers from his injuries in hospital.

Police say the young man allegedly behind the wheel had evaded police a number of times in the early hours of the morning before finally speeding through two red lights and slamming into the side of another car shortly after 2am.

The 21-year-old male was charged with drive motor vehicle cause death, drive motor vehicle cause serious harm, recklessly endanger life x 3, drive dangerously during pursuit, drive unregistered, drive uninsured, drive unlicensed and fail to obey direction of police.

Police investigate the scene of a horror crash on Trower Rd at Lakeside Drv overnight. Picture Glenn Campbell

He has been remanded to appear in court on Wednesday, May 19. The 33-year-old man driving the other vehicle and the 21-year-old’s two other passengers were each also recovering from non-life threatening injuries in Royal Darwin Hospital yesterday.

NT Police Crime Commander Martin Dole said police would allege officers first spotted the black hatchback driving dangerously in the Darwin CBD but when they tried to pull it over, the driver failed to stop and “sped off”.

“Due to the amount of vehicular and pedestrian traffic in town at that time, a decision was made not to chase the vehicle because of the danger it might pose to the public,” he said.

Cmdr Dole said an unmarked police car caught up with the hatchback and covertly followed it until officers made another co-ordinated attempt to pull the driver over near the Rapid Creek shops.

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“That vehicle again failed to stop, it sped off, breaching two red traffic lights and collided with a civilian vehicle that was travelling against a green traffic light,” he alleged.

“There were four occupants in the offending vehicle and unfortunately one of the passengers in the offending vehicle succumbed to injuries that were caused during the crash and she passed away at the scene.”

Due to the police involvement prior to the crash, Cmdr Dole said it was being treated as a death in custody and a report would be prepared for the coroner.

“Any time that a member of the public is injured or dies as a result of interaction with police we’ve got policies that must be adhered to that say it must be investigated as a death or serious injury in police custody,” he said.

“That investigation is oversighted by the NT Coroner.”

The Territory’s road toll for 2021 now stands at nine.

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