By Erin Pearson
In the 23 minutes before driver William Swale ploughed into diners outside a Daylesford hotel, the BMW moved just 300 metres, his defence team says.
The Ballarat Magistrates’ Court heard Swale, allegedly in the grips of a hypoglycaemic attack from low blood sugar, drove from a car park near the bowls club on Camp Street before stopping multiple times in the middle of the road as other cars overtook him.
Accused man William Swale (right) and lawyer Martin Amad outside Ballarat Magistrates’ Court.Credit: Justin McManus
Then, shortly after 6pm on November 5, Swale drove downhill on Albert Street and failed to turn right, mounting the kerb and hitting and killing five people outside the Royal Daylesford Hotel.
“We know at 5.17pm he apparently had a blood glucose level of 2.9, and at 5.18pm the hypoglycaemic alarm went off on his monitor,” specialist endocrinologist Professor John Carter said.
Video footage released by the court shows Swale enter Winespeake Cellar + Deli and ask for a table about 5.21pm. Swale is told they are full and leaves.
At 5.42pm, Swale’s White BMW is captured in CCTV footage that shows the car stopping in the middle of Camp Street, near the Daylesford Bowling Club, a few hundred metres from the deli.
The footage shows a dark-coloured sedan and then a blue hatchback drive around his car before, about 70 seconds later, Swale performs a U-turn and drives away at low speed.
The fatal crash occurred minutes later outside the Royal Daylesford Hotel.
On Tuesday, the court heard Swale, 66, had no memory of the deadly crash. His legal team is this week expected to apply to the magistrate to discontinue the case against him.
Dermot Dann, KC, said records showed it took Swale 23 minutes to undertake his final 300 metres of driving before the crash, which he put to medical experts was consistent with someone suffering from a severe hypoglycaemic attack.
The prosecution alleges Swale received – but disregarded – a string of alerts sent to his mobile phone warning him his blood glucose levels were low in the lead-up to the crash.
A screen grab of CCTV footage played in court showing William Swale’s stationary white BMW in the middle of Camp Street, Daylesford.
Swale’s diabetes specialist, Dr Matthew Cohen, told the court he had been treating Swale for almost 30 years, describing him as a model patient.
He said it appeared Swale had experienced an unusually rapid decline in blood glucose levels, with his readings around the time of the crash – less than 2.2 millimoles per litre – showing he was “virtually close to death”.
Cohen said his patient told him after the crash that he didn’t receive any notifications at any time telling him his levels were getting low.
“I’d say he was hypoglycaemic before 5pm, perhaps a quarter of an hour earlier. For the latter part of that time ... severe hypoglycaemic. Basically, the brain not functioning correctly,” Cohen said.
“It was very clear from what he reported he’d suffered an episode of severe hypoglycaemia, which led to the accident occurring.”
Swale is charged with five counts of culpable driving causing death, two counts of negligently causing serious injury and seven counts of reckless conduct endangering life after his car ploughed into patrons at the Daylesford pub.
He has been an insulin-dependent type 1 diabetic since at least 1994, and there were conditions on his licence that required him to undergo medical assessments every two years.
He was also using a continuous blood-glucose monitoring device, attached to his arm, which sent updates of his levels to his mobile phone.
Vivek Bhatia (left) and his son, Vihaan Bhatia (in blue top), died at the scene, alongside friends Pratibha Sharma (in academic gown) and her partner, Jatin Kumar (right). Sharma’s daughter, Anvi, died later in hospital. Ruchi Bhatia (in yellow) and son Abeer (bottom left) were seriously injured.
On the evening of November 5, patrons were at wooden picnic tables on a grass reserve outside the Royal Daylesford Hotel – at the bottom of Albert Street – when CCTV footage showed Swale’s BMW failing to make a right-hand turn and driving straight across the reserve, hitting numerous patrons, killing five and seriously injuring others.
Vihaan Bhatia, 11, and his father, Vivek Bhatia, 38, died at the scene, alongside family friends Pratibha Sharma, 44, and Jatin Kumar, 30. Sharma’s nine-year-old daughter, Anvi, was taken to hospital, where she later died. Vihaan’s mother, Ruchi Bhatia, and his brother, Abeer, were seriously injured.
Three other people, a 43-year-old woman from Kyneton, a 38-year-old man from Cockatoo and an 11-month-old boy, were also injured.
The hearing continues.
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