Bail refused for man charged for allegedly causing deadly Kinkuna crash

He appeared in court on where he made an application for bail.

Stewart Andrew Casey is charged with dangerous operation of a vehicle causing death and grievous bodily harm while adversely affected by an intoxicating substance. Photo: Social Media

It was a devastating crash which claimed the lives of a grandmother and mother and left a four-year-old girl asking for her mummy in hospital.

Now a man has been charged with allegedly causing the deadly Kinkuna crash that claimed the lives of Maryanne Bishop and Jessyica Bishop.

Stewart Andrew Casey, 35, appeared in Bundaberg Magistrates Court on Tuesday by videolink from the Bundaberg Watch House, charged with one count of dangerous operation of a vehicle causing death and grievous bodily harm whole adversely affected by an intoxicating substance.

Casey was hospitalised after the crash and was released on Monday where he was then taken into custody before making an application for bail on Tuesday.

It is alleged Casey was overtaking a car on Goodwood Rd on March 21, before he was involved in a head-on collision with another vehicle.

It is further alleged he was adversely affected at the time.

While going through the objection to bail material, Magistrate Andrew Moloney noted there was not yet evidence to suggest Casey was adversely affected.

Maryanne Bishop, 52, and Jessyica Bishop, 32, died after a two-car collision at Kinkuna

 

Police prosecutor Sergeant Grant Klaassen said the results of a blood sample, had not yet been returned and conceded there was no evidence at the moment of Casey being intoxicated by a substance.

Duty lawyer Lani Olafsson, who represented Casey in court, said she was instructed by her client that he was not intoxicated at the time of the crash.

Ms Olafsson told the court her client didn't recall much of the incident and that he sustained significant injuries as a result of the crash.

She said her client had not used drugs since the date of his last offence which was earlier in March and that he was willing to abide by any bail conditions.

In her submissions, Ms Olafsson said Casey may be at risk of spending too much time in custody, but conceded even without the circumstance of aggravation it was likely he would receive some term of imprisonment.

Mr Moloney took into account the seriousness of the allegation but noted the absence of evidence to suggest Casey was adversely affected.

He said the maximum period of imprisonment for the charge with the circumstance of aggravation was 14 years and 10 years maximum without.

He said if Casey was found guilty of the offence a term of imprisonment was "inevitable".

Mr Moloney also took into account Casey had already received four notices to appear this year and was also on a suspended sentence.

He said it was also concerning that some of those alleged offences involved drugs.

Mr Moloney found Casey was an unacceptable risk of committing further offences and bail was refused.

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Originally published as Bail refused for man charged for allegedly causing deadly Kinkuna crash