Driver in Boxing Day smash that killed four was serial offender
Actor Jessica Falkholt’s life support turned off as police officer reveals shocking backstory of driver who killed her family.
The man responsible for a horror Boxing Day car crash on the NSW south coast which killed himself and the family of actress Jessica Falkholt was a “menace to society” who should have been in jail, according to a former policeman who dealt with the convicted criminal for nearly a decade.
The ex-NSW Police officer served in the Nowra region between 1996 and 2004 and says he wasn’t surprised when he learned Craig Whitall was driving the four- wheel drive that slammed into the Falkhots’ car on Boxing Day.
“I was shocked he was out on the streets, but not shocked he was involved (in the crash),” the former officer who wanted to be known only as Andrew told 2GB radio on Friday.
“He was a repeat offender. He didn’t care about law. How he got his licence back I will never know. It astounded me that he was out on the road.”
Whitall, 50, was reportedly travelling home from a Nowra methadone clinic when he crashed into the Falkholt family’s car on December 26 near Ulladulla. Parents Lars and Vivien were killed instantly, while their two daughters, Annabelle, 21, and Home and Away actor Jessica, 29, were pulled from the burning vehicle. Whitall also died.
Annabelle died days later while Jessica’s life support system has been turned off. Relatives of the 28-year-old Home and Away actress agreed to withdraw her life support, after her condition failed to improve. She lost a kidney and had part of her skull removed following the crash and was in critical condition in St George hospital this morning.
The Daily Telegraph today revealed Whitall had more than 60 traffic offences on his criminal record, 10 of which occurred while he was disqualified from driving.
It is understood Whitall was on his way home from a methadone clinic when his Toyota Prado colided with the Falkholt’s vehicle head-on
The former officer says Whitall was involved in a lot of break and enters and was a “well-known drug offender” in the region.
“He was extremely well known to us,” Andrew said.
“He was a menace to society ... and should have been in jail.”
The former officer believes methadone should be a prescribed drug and it should be illegal to drive under its influence.
NSW Roads Minister Melinda Pavey says the government will investigate the “terrible set of circumstances” that led to the deadly crash.
“We have been spending hours within government trying to get a sense of the best way forward because we do understand this has created great concern within the community because we all know it could be us,” she told 2GB.
Whitall’s extensive criminal history revealed he had been caught driving twice without a licence in as many days, back in 1998.
A decade earlier he was found driving while disqualified and had been using one his 28 aliases, Jamie Robert Wilson, to avoid police detection.
Whitall was also claiming a disability pension and had been convicted three times of driving while over the alcohol limit, once of driving under the influence of drugs and twice for dangerous driving.
According to The Telegraph, Whitall was so well known to police on the south coast that he was easily recognised and regularly pulled over for his reckless driving.
Once in March 2011, police spotted Whitall driving a white Holden Commodore and, after following him back to his home to question him, he told them, “I wasn’t driving, it was me mum.”
In August 2004 Whitall was jailed for nine-months after he was caught driving while disqualified.
From July 2004 to July 2013 he was prohibited from driving a vehicle due to his sordid record, a court order which he resolutely ignored.
In April 2008 Whitall was also convicted of two counts of assault, in what he claimed was an outburst at a young family member because he was enraged that he had to keep attending Nowra Local Court.
Staff reporters
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