Life lost, life ruined as two paths collide in Perth
Rhys Bellinge seemingly had it all. Elizabeth Pearce had it all in front of her.
Rhys Bellinge seemingly had it all. Elizabeth Pearce had it all in front of her.
The lives of the 45-year-old obstetrician and the 24-year-old student intersected momentarily and catastrophically last Saturday night, when Dr Bellinge’s high-powered Jaguar lost control and slammed into the Honda Jazz rideshare vehicle carrying Ms Pearce. He was allegedly driving at 130km/h in a 50km/h zone at the time of the crash, and had a blood-alcohol reading of almost four times over the limit.
The young woman died at the scene. Dr Bellinge is now recovering from his injuries in prison, having been remanded into custody this week after a magistrate found he would pose an unacceptable risk to the community if granted bail. He has been charged with manslaughter and dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm.
The accident has generated a combination of fury and profound sadness across the community: fury at the decisions made by Dr Bellinge, a decorated obstetrician from one of Perth’s wealthiest families, and sadness over the sudden loss of a beautiful, talented and admired young woman.
Elizabeth had been a popular figure at the local Nedlands Primary School before becoming a star student at the private St Hilda’s Anglican School for Girls. She had studied marine biology at the University of Western Australia, and had recently completed an internship at Woodside Energy, where her father had a long career as a geophysicist.
Locals who spoke to The Australian said that Elizabeth had, on the day she died, been consoling a friend who had recently lost a sibling to suicide. She had also planned to travel to the airport that evening, where she was going to surprise her boyfriend on his return from interstate.
The local Post newspaper on Friday carried an account from a man who rushed to Elizabeth’s aid in the aftermath of the crash.
“I was talking to her, saying she was going to be OK, that there were people helping her,” the man said. “She just looked like this beautiful girl sitting in the back seat, with no sign of injury. Then all of a sudden, the colour left her face.”
The driver of the Jaguar – now known to be Dr Bellinge – was seen “crawling” away from the wreckage, the man said.
During bail application hearings in Perth Magistrates Court this week, Dr Bellinge’s lawyer, Tony Hager, painted his client as a man who was struggling to cope with the breakdown of his marriage. He and his wife separated on January 11, and had started marriage counselling on February 3. The last of those sessions was on Valentine’s Day, the day before the accident.
He had just left their former family home on The Avenue in Nedlands and was heading towards his father’s palatial riverfront home when the accident occurred. Dashcam footage recovered from the wreckage showed Dr Bellinge speeding through the streets, at one point coming up behind another vehicle so fast the driver pulled off the road to let him through.
He accelerated to 130km/h upon turning into Birdwood Avenue. Tyre marks identified by major crash investigators appear to show the Jaguar hitting a kerb before veering into the vehicle carrying Ms Pearce.
The accident is all the more shocking given Dr Bellinge’s position in the community. There are few professions that require a greater level of trust than obstetrics. Dr Bellinge had only recently started his own practice, operating out of St John of God’s Murdoch campus in Perth’s south.
One obstetrician, who did not want to be named, said it was a profession that could put significant pressure on individuals and their families.
While financially rewarding and widely respected, it is a job that can carry long hours and high stress. Dr Bellinge would by no means be the first in the field to experience issues with alcohol or his marriage.
“Ours is a tough gig, it puts enormous pressure on our families and it can lead to personal problems and marital problems,” he said. “But that’s not just our game, that’s the game of life.”
Medicine appears to have been a family calling: his father Bruce is an embryologist who is considered a pioneer in the field of IVF, and whose business, Concept Fertility, made him wealthy.
Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency records show two other Bellinges with the same middle name as Bruce: Rhys obtained his bachelor of medicine and bachelor of surgery from Fremantle’s private University of Notre Dame in 2014, and Brynn Bellinge graduated as a doctor of medicine from the University of Queensland in 2020 after previously studying physiotherapy at Notre Dame. A third Bellinge, Dirk, is the chief executive of medical test company Sterequip and is the former head of the Bruce-founded Concept Fertility.
All four – patriarch Bruce, Rhys, Brynn and Dirk – live within a 1km radius of each other in Dalkeith and neighbouring Nedlands.
Elizabeth’s family home is in the same area.
The suburb where the accident took place is one of Perth’s most affluent. Dalkeith is an enclave of wealth and privilege, surrounded on three sides by the Swan River and perched between the city and the ocean.
The suburb is home to eye-watering amounts of money, titans of industry and at least one royal family. Gina Rinehart lives there in her father Lang Hancock’s old home, just around the corner from Kerry Stokes’ Jutland Parade mansion. Malaysia’s Sultan of Johor and Indonesia’s second-richest man have both built houses on the same street.
Bruce Bellinge and his wife Megan Wynne had bought their home on Jutland Parade in 2016 for $13.7m. It was a trophy purchase to celebrate the growing success of Ms Wynne’s APM Human Services International, a disabilities employment company Bruce had supported with early injections of capital.
Ms Wynne collected $250m from the sale of part of her stake in 2018, and the couple’s remaining shares were at one point worth more than $1bn.
They had extensively renovated the house, which sits on a 3372sq m block and features six bedrooms, seven bathrooms, marble floors, ornate gardens and a large swimming pool. Its walls are adorned by the couple’s mismatching art tastes: Bruce favours the colonial era works of Frederick McCubbin, while Ms Wynne owns an Andy Warhol portrait of Grace Kelly.
Rhys had been living at the mansion since his separation and had been hoping to stay there if he was granted bail. Mr Hager had said his client would offer up a $1m surety, surrender his passport and abstain from alcohol as part of his bail conditions.
Ultimately, however, it was the dashcam footage from the Jaguar that prevented Rhys from returning to Jutland Parade.
Beyond the recording of the moments leading up to the accident, police also found footage from days earlier in which Dr Bellinge drove aggressively and at speed through Perth’s western suburbs.
Speeding at more than 100km/h through the 40km/h streets of Kings Park – where, again, a motorist was forced to pull off the road to let him through – Dr Bellinge could be heard describing his car as “amazing” and “superpowered”. Throughout the footage, Dr Bellinge could be heard shouting profanity-filled rants about his wife.
Ultimately, it led magistrate Clare Cullen to conclude that Dr Bellinge posed a risk to the safety and wellbeing of the community.
She described the prosecution case as “exceptionally strong”.
As Dr Bellinge contemplates a future behind bars, the Dalkeith and Nedlands community are continuing to mourn.
City of Nedlands mayor Fiona Argyle told The Australian that the community was “absolutely devastated” by Elizabeth’s death.
Everyone in Nedlands either knew Elizabeth, or knew someone who knew her. “We’re such a close knit group, and our actual community is separated by just one or two degrees,” she said.
“That’s why this has hit so hard. There’s this huge sense of grief that the community hasn’t experienced for many, many decades.”
She said in the days since the accident, she had heard many stories of Elizabeth’s intelligence and kindness. “A pall of grief has descended over our entire community and we’re all so shocked and saddened by it,” she said.
Dr Bellinge, meanwhile, was quietly transferred on Thursday night from Sir Charles Gairdner hospital to prison. A back injury means he still requires assistance to shower, dress, and remove a spinal brace, although police prosecutors said Department of Corrective Services staff would be able to accommodate his needs.
The driver of the rideshare vehicle, 25-year-old Muhammad Usman, is facing a protracted recovery after breaking both legs and an arm.
Asked on Friday about Dr Bellinge’s transfer, WA Premier Roger Cook said he did not know if the doctor had received any special treatment.
“We want two things to happen,” he said. “We need Mr Bellinge to be kept safe and we want to make sure that he’s looked after, whether that’s in a prison environment or a hospital environment. And we also want everyone to co-operate with the process that has been set out by the courts.”
During this week’s bail hearings, the doctor dialled into court over an audio link. He was largely silent throughout, but could be heard quietly sobbing as Ms Cullen announced that he would not be receiving bail.
Much of Perth, however, has been quietly sobbing for Elizabeth.
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