Tamara Boland fatal crash: Family’s heartbreaking victim impact statements

Tamara Boland’s heartbroken husband and son have made powerful statements that reveal the depths of their lingering grief, as a driver is sentenced over her tragic death. This is what they told an emotionally charged courtroom.

Tamara Boland was just a few kilometres from home when she tried to get out of the path of an oncoming speeding car that ultimately killed her.

Mrs Boland’s car and the oncoming ute Brent Jordan Smith, 26 was driving struck her Nissan hatchback head-on around a bend on Eton Homebush Rd on October 6, 2020.

She died at the scene.

Smith pleaded guilty on Monday in Mackay District Court to dangerous driving causing death.

He was sentenced to three-and-a-half years jail, suspended after he has served six months.

The rest of the jail sentence will then hang over his head for a further three-an-a-half years.

His licence was disqualified for two years.

Mrs Boland’s husband Michael Boland, and the couple’s eldest son Ryan, delivered powerful victim impact statements to the court before Smith was sentenced.

Brent Jordan Smith pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death over a crash that killed mum of two Tamara Boland on October 6 2020 on Eton Homebush Rd at Homebush.

The raw emotional toll a mother-of-two’s death in a horrific head-on crash has had on her family is laid bare in moving victim impact statements.

Six statements were tendered to the court, but two were read to Judge Jennifer Rosengren, Smith and his family.

These are their words.

Michael Boland

“The loss of Tamara, my wife of 21 years, has had a devastating effect on me,” he read to the court.

“Tamara, who I have known since she was 18, was my life partner, best friend and one person I could totally rely on and trust.

“I have a lingering sense of loss and emptiness, I’ve lost my anchor.

“Tamara and I did everything together as a partnership and I no longer have her support by my side.

“The night Tamara died I went looking for her … I travelled only two and a half kilometres from our house to find the road closed, I was advised by police at the crash scene Tamara had passed away.

“Being told your wife has died at the crash scene is heart-wrenching.

“Seeing Tamara lying in the mortuary is heartbreaking.

“With the crash site being so close to our home, my sons and I are constantly reminded of the event.

“My son Lachlan’s school bus goes past that site twice a day five times a week.

“Since losing Tamara, I am overcome by feelings of loneliness and I have stopped doing a number of things we enjoyed as a couple.

“I am now the sole parent of her two teenage sons and through the emotional upheaval, I have done my best to support my eldest son Ryan to get him through year 12 and get Lachlan through year 10.

“Ryan and Lachlan have lost their mother, the love and support only a mother can give.

The scene of the crash on Eton Homebush Rd near Eton in which mother-of-two Tamara Boland died. Picture: Tara Miko

“Tamara was looking forward to seeing her sons be successful in their studies and careers.

“Tamara and I will not get to share the experience of our sons graduating, 18th or 21st birthdays, or weddings.

“Tamara was particularly looking forward to the day she had grandchildren …

“Tamara and I were looking forward to growing old together and enjoying the benefits of our past hard work but that opportunity has been taken away from us and part of me has been severed …

“From a financial point of view, the loss of Tamara has made me reassess my own priorities and consequently on November 21, I made the decision to take a break from full-time employment to maximise the time I could spend with my sons (to help them) pursue further studies and careers.

“While this is a conscious decision on my part, it does reduce my expected income for at least 12 months.

“The loss of Tamara also means I am currently the sole source of financial means for the household.

“Tamara was a generous, beautiful soul, and dedicated and loving mother and wife and the rock foundation of our family.

“Tamara was much-loved by her family and friends and work colleagues. Tamara was respected with a high level of integrity, courage, knowledge, ingenuity and hard work.

“Tamara also possessed a great capacity for compassion and forgiveness, she had a love of nature and was committed to protecting the environment.

“Tamara was taken far too soon, and had so much more life to live and love to give.

“I was privileged to have had Tamara as my wife and always feel the immense sense of loss in no longer having Tamara by my side.”

Tamara Boland’s husband Michael and son Ryan read powerful victim impact statements to Mackay District Court when the driver, Brent Jordan Smith, was sentenced.

Ryan Boland

“The death of my mother Tamara Rose Boland is a permanent detrimental change to my life,” he told the court.

“Losing your mother at the age of 16 is a truly traumatic event.

“At the time of my mother’s death, I was in Year 11.

“My mother always wanted me to achieve to the best of my ability in school (and) encouraged me to do so.

“It was deeply upsetting for me to pass the important milestone of graduating without my mother present.

“And on the day I graduated, the one thing that I deeply yearned for was the sight of my mother’s warm, loving, beautiful smile.

“And after I left my graduation mass, I visited her grave.

“As my father mentioned before, I recently turned 18 and it’s upsetting to have my mother absent.

“I will experience further extreme upset as I pass through my life’s other important milestones such as completion of university, marriage and having children.

“My mother often said she wanted grandchildren and the fact my mother won’t be involved in the lives of my children is deeply upsetting.

“The loss of my mother and the nature of her death, while I was still learning to drive, has resulted in me sometimes experiencing extreme feelings of anxiety while driving.

“I get these situations where I am physically repulsed by the sight of road markings, of standard road markings.

“It’s screwed up.

“The important role my mother played in my life can never be refilled.”

Originally published as Tamara Boland fatal crash: Family’s heartbreaking victim impact statements