A driver who killed six teenagers near Mildura in a hit-run tragedy is facing fresh driving charges after being arrested and having his car impounded by police last year.
Thomas Towle briefly appeared at Bendigo Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, almost 19 years after his actions led to the deaths of the teenagers at Cardross, just outside Mildura.
The 54-year-old is now accused of driving unlicensed and under the influence of drugs. His lawyers indicated he would plead guilty to the new charges.
His appearance in court comes after police arrested Towle, who was allegedly driving unlicensed along the Calder Freeway, last year.
In a statement at the time, police said officers had impounded a car at Derby, near Bendigo, about 1pm on September 28 and Towle had allegedly tried to switch seats with a female passenger.
Police said the Bendigo man undertook a preliminary oral fluid test which came back positive for methylamphetamine. He was then charged with drug offences and unlicensed driving.
When stopped outside the Bendigo Magistrates’ Court after the hearing by waiting media on Wednesday and asked if he understood how heart-wrenching the new charges would be for the families of the teenagers killed, Towle told Nine News: “Absolutely, of course.”
Asked if he was going to stay off the roads, he said: “Yes, absolutely.”
Towle was jailed for a maximum 10-year term after ploughing into a group of 13 teenagers, killing six, after a 16th birthday celebration on the outskirts of Mildura.
Stevie-Lee Weight, 15, Shane Hirst, 16, Abby Hirst, 17, Cory Dowling, 16, Cassandra Manners, 16, and Josie Calvi, 16, all died on February 18, 2006.
Towle had been speeding and had his four-year-old child sitting on his lap at the time of the crash. He fled the scene before being arrested five hours later. He was found not guilty of culpable driving, but guilty of six counts of dangerous driving causing death and four of dangerous driving causing serious injury.
Thomas Towle arriving at court in March 2008.Credit: Nine News
“It was your speed and lack of attention which caused these catastrophic consequences. These tragic deaths were caused by you and you alone,” Judge Philip Cummins told Towle in sentencing him at the time.
On the night of the tragic crash, Towle’s younger brother, Darren, cautioned him to drive carefully because of a party in Myall Street, which links the hamlets of Red Cliffs and Cardross, about 20 kilometres south of Mildura.
The seven-year minimum sentence caused an uproar among friends and families of the victims at the time. Their distress was amplified when Towle’s lawyers launched an appeal against the sentence in 2008.
The appeal was unsuccessful, but Towle was released from an Ararat medium security prison in 2013 after serving 7½ years. He was again placed behind bars in 2015, for breaching his parole conditions.
Towle is to appear at the Bendigo Magistrates Court again on February 26.
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