Peter Meuleman claims he was ‘brickwalled’ when seeking details about crash involving his son and Daniel Andrews

Ryan Meuleman’s life changed forever the fateful day he was hit by Dan Andrews’ car, but when his dad went seeking answers he was “brickwalled”.

Peter Meuleman smelt a rat within hours of the January 2013 crash that almost killed his son.

Traumatised by the early afternoon collision between a car and his bike-riding teenage boy at Blairgowrie, Mr Meuleman visited Rye police station seeking answers about what had happened on the corner of Ridley St and Melbourne Rd.

He would not discover until days later that the then-Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews and his wife Catherine were in the car.

“I was a very distraught father and I just wanted to know the details of the accident,” Mr Meuleman recalled.

“After the impact, the doctors told me that he bled out five times the volume of blood that the human body holds and that they had to pump units of blood and units of plasma to stabilise his condition and secure the ruptured spleen.

Peter Meuleman and his son Ryan stand on the spot where Ryan was hit while riding his bike. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

“What were the circumstances? Was it speeding? Was it negligence? Was it driving under the influence? All of those things that I felt that I had the right to know as the father of a minor that was involved in that accident. But they disclosed nothing to me. I just got brickwalled – and I couldn’t understand that.

“Accidents happen but why you would hold the details from the father made no sense to me.”

Mr Meuleman said he became more suspicious about a week later when he got a call from an insurance company “seeking damages from us” for Ryan’s bike hitting the car the Andrews family were driving.

“I couldn’t believe that,” he said.

“For God’s sake, my son nearly died in the middle of the road and you want to get damages from a push bike?”

Mr Meuleman said the insurance firm “errantly” revealed that the driver of the vehicle had been a Catherine Kesik and that it was a state government car.

“So that kind of set off a couple of alarm bells in my head and we did some digging and found that Catherine Kesik was the wife of the Opposition Leader at the time, Daniel Andrews,” he said.

Ryan Meuleman after his accident

Ryan Meuleman in hospital after being knocked down off his bike by a car in Blairgowrie

The January 7 crash only became public nine days after it occurred, when Mr Meuleman contacted the Herald Sun.

Nine years on, Mr Meuleman says he still can’t understand the way Mr Andrews and his wife behaved after the crash.

“It’s all upsetting, but if I had been involved in an accident and somebody was injured - if it’s my fault or not my fault regardless of where the blame laid – I’d want to follow up and find out if that person who was involved in that accident was OK,” he said.

“I thought that would be the moral thing to do but it never happened.”

Premier Andews has previously said he was advised by police not to contact the family.

Mr Meuleman said Ryan’s life changed forever that fateful afternoon.

“It was massive and that’s why we are here today because we still feel like there was an injustice done to my son,” he said.

“For a period post the accident he went all rebellious, he went a little bit transient. I was estranged from him. And in my head, psychologically, he was running away from all this.”

Mr Meuleman hoped a fresh investigation led by lawyer George Defteros – or even an independent inquiry – would bring long-awaited answers.

“We kind of got battered down a little bit and battered into submission on it all – and now some people are willing to fight on our behalf and hopefully try and get to the truth of the story,” he said.

“And if that differs from the original or if that co-aligns with the original so be it as well.

“It’s really just a case of trying to get a proper closure so my son can get his life properly back on track rather than just having to live with this dark cloud over him that stems from this accident.”

Originally published as Peter Meuleman claims he was ‘brickwalled’ when seeking details about crash involving his son and Daniel Andrews