By Simone Fox Koob
The truck driver who killed four police officers on the Eastern Freeway has claimed he told his boss twice in the hours before the fatal collision that he had not had any sleep since his previous shift because he had been cursed by a witch and was experiencing hallucinations.
Mohinder Singh, who has been jailed for 18 years over the crash on April 22, 2020, gave evidence in the Supreme Court on Tuesday as part of a plea hearing for his boss, Simiona Tuteru.
Mohinder Singh says he told Simiona Tuteru that he believed he was cursed by a witch and was traumatised by it.Credit: Nine News
Tuteru, also known as Simon, pleaded guilty in December to one charge of failing to comply with his duty under the heavy vehicle laws and engaging in conduct that exposed the four officers – Lynette Taylor, Kevin King, Glen Humphris and Joshua Prestney – as well as the truck driver, to a risk of death or serious injury.
Prosecutor Matthew Fisher told the court that Tuteru, who was a supervisor at trucking company Connect Logistics and responsible for managing and scheduling drivers, directed a fatigued and therefore unfit person to drive a heavy vehicle.
Singh, dressed in a grey prison tracksuit, told the court that when he arrived at the truck depot at 3.30pm on the afternoon of the crash, he was not intending to drive or do his shift because he hadn’t had any sleep, he was seeing things, he thought he was cursed by a witch and was traumatised by it.
“I wanted to see Simon about it because I knew he was the pastor of a church,” Singh said.
Singh said he told Tuteru he had picked up a woman he thought was a witch, and she had cursed him, before telling him he hadn’t slept and that he was “seeing things”.
Tuteru told him that witches “leave things behind, like items, voodoo dolls, hair, items”, Singh said, so the pair had searched his car.
One of the police cars being removed from the crash scene in April 2020.Credit: Eddie Jim
“While I was searching the car I also let him know I hadn’t been asleep,” Singh said.
After they searched the car, Tuteru put his hands on Singh’s head, prayed, and said: “In Jesus’ name, I cast the spell out of you,” the truck driver told the court.
“After that it was basically, ‘You’re right to go, I need you to do one load, and after that if you are not feeling well, you can go home’.”
He didn’t want to lose his job, so he got behind the wheel despite feeling “crap” and sleepy, Singh said.
The court heard that after the interaction, Tuteru texted a friend and said: “Just prayed salvation and deliverance with a driver this arvo. Broke curses and witchcraft.”
Tuteru’s defence lawyer, David Hallowes, SC, questioned Singh about this interaction, challenging his account that he told his boss he hadn’t slept.
Singh conceded that in the days leading up to the crash he had taken drugs and was fatigued, which could have affected his memory, but he said the conversation with Tuteru stood out.
“The day I went to the depot to talk to Simon, that specifically stands out because it’s the sole reason I went there, to tell him I hadn’t been asleep, I was seeing things and I’m not right.”
The prosecution said that it was at this point that Tuteru should have acted “in accordance with his role and responsibilities as supervisor” and decided Singh was not fit to drive.
Senior Constable Kevin King (left), Constable Josh Prestney, Leading Senior Constable Lynette Taylor and Constable Glen Humphris were killed on the Eastern Freeway in 2020.Credit: Victoria Police
Fisher urged the judge to accept Singh’s evidence, saying the truck driver had never wavered in his position that he told his boss he had no sleep.
But Hallowes said there were issues with Singh’s reliability and credibility. He said it wasn’t in contention that Tuteru had conducted prayers, laid his hands on Singh and spoke of religious and supernatural issues.
“What we say is in contention is solely this issue of whether or not Mr Singh told the accused during that conversation that Mr Singh hadn’t slept since the last shift,” he said.
He said that while it was accepted that Tuteru knew there was some issue with Singh on the day of the crash, it was more related to the discussion of religious and supernatural matters, rather than any concerns about fatigue.
“Tuteru’s reaction to supernatural aspect, needs to be viewed through prism of his own religious beliefs … he is someone who belongs to a faith where very much the matters that were raised, rather than ringing strong alarm bells, are matters in his faith … matters he thought he could assist by prayer,” Hallowes said.
An investigation by The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and 60 Minutes revealed in April that Tuteru was a dedicated senior leader and former pastor in a small but devout Pentecostal church, the Potter’s House Christian Fellowship, which links physical ailments to different sins and curses and uses praying and healing rituals to cure members from illness and “curses”.
Due to Tuteru’s lack of prior criminal history, prospects for rehabilitation and significant family support, Hallowes argued that a fine or community corrections order would be an appropriate sentence.
The prosecution said while the charge would ordinarily call for imprisonment, given the circumstances of the plea, the Crown would not argue that a non-custodial sentence was outside the range open to the judge.
Family members of the four police officers who died in the crash were in court on Tuesday, where a number delivered victim impact statements.
Andrew Prestney, the father of Josh Prestney, who died in the incident, told the court he was constantly transported back to the soul-destroying moment he was told his son had been killed. He said that in the past four years he had had anger simmering inside him.
“I cannot stop thinking about personal responsibility. How is it that some people’s choices or poor choices have a catastrophic effect on others?”
Singh outside the Melbourne Supreme Court in April 2021.Credit: Jason South
Brother Alex Prestney said his family had spent many long and painful days in courtrooms in the years since the crash.
“Here we are still. It’s February 2024, and we are still debating responsibility for how my brother and three of his colleagues were hit by a 20-tonne truck on the Eastern Freeway,” he said.
“We must remember who we are here for. Lynette, Josh, Kevin, Glen. They are the ones who lost their lives and the reason we are in this courtroom.”
Justice James Elliott will sentence Tuteru at a later date.
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