Wayne Hunt faces Supreme Court after crushing 11-year-old Daemarius Purcell-Appo with his ute against Moulden Supermarket wall

A Territory grandfather wept and hid his face in his hands as the court watched CCTV of him driving his ute into an 11-year-old boy, fatally crushing him against the wall of a Palmerston supermarket.

Security footage did not capture the screams of children and bystanders as an 11-year-old boy was pinned by a ute against a Palmerston supermarket wall, instead the courtroom heard the quiet grief of a grandfather forced to rewatch his fatal split-second mistake.

Wayne Peter Hunt appeared in the Supreme Court on Wednesday, after pleading guilty to dangerous driving causing the death of 11-year-old Daemarius Purcell-Appo.

For the first time CCTV of the young Queensland boy’s final moments was played in court, with Justice Meredith Huntingford warning loved ones and court staff that they could leave to avoid the “distressing” footage.

The 55-year-old Territory grandfather covered his eyes as the vision played, but soft sound of his sniffles and tears could be heard.

Three of Daemarius‘s loved ones bore witness as the CCTV showed Hunt’s Dodge Ram ute pulling into the Moulden Supermarket car park on December 20, 2022.

The footage showed the 55-year-old dropping his bottle of iced coffee, and scrambling to retrieve it from under the body of the car.

After failing to grab it, Hunt got back into the driver’s seat of the ute.

Wayne Peter Hunt comes out of the Supreme Court trial after pleading guilty to dangerous driving killing 11-year-old Daemarius Purcell-Appo with his ute in a Moulden car park. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

The next moment is at the centre of a legal clash, with defence barrister Matthew Hubber claiming it was “momentary inattention”, while prosecutor Ian Rowbottam called it the culmination of a “reckless” chain of events meaning the 55-year-old had “abandoned responsibility”.

But both agree that the one-legged man accidentally set his automatic car into drive — not reverse — before hitting the accelerator, causing the ute to lurch forward, pinning 11-year-old Daemarius to the wall.

After an agonising eight second wait, the car reverses and his tiny body slumps to the ground, a pool of blood already forming around his crumpled body as he tries to move.

A man tucked his shirt under the boy’s head, a final comfort before he passed away.

“It is clear from the video that Daemarius suffered significantly,” Mr Rowbottam said.

“And his uncle could do nothing but watch his nephew die.”

Director of Public Prosecutions lawyer Ian Rowbottam leaving Darwin Supreme Court. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

The prosecutor said the 55-year-old man should never have been behind the wheel, as it was not modified for his prosthetic leg and he was intoxicated from cannabis he was using to self medicate his phantom leg pain.

“This was a multi-step procedure and at each step there has been a failing,” he said.

“All of those steps caused the death of this young boy.”

Mr Hubber said it was a “multitude of extremely unfortunate events”.

He said his client did not use the prosthetic leg modification to his vehicle, as he found it “extremely uncomfortable and unsafe” to use, and was distracted by the iced coffee bottle under the ute.

Defence barrister Matthew Hubber leaving Darwin Supreme Court. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Mr Hubber rejected that his client was “blind drunk” from his self-medicating cannabis use, with his intoxication more akin to a low-level drink driving offence.

“We’re not here to play out an eye for an eye sentence … this was a tragic accident, he was culpable and he’s taken responsibility for it,” he said.

But when Mr Hubber suggested the prospects of a home detention order, one of Daemarius’s relatives called out through her tears: “his life for an iced coffee”.

Wayne Peter Hunt comes out of the Supreme Court trial after pleading guilty to dangerous driving killing 11-year-old Daemarius Purcell-Appo with his ute in a Moulden car park. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Mr Rowbottam said given the Territory’s disproportionately high road toll, a prison sentence was needed as a lesson that distracted, intoxicated driving was unacceptable.

Justice Huntingford said she would need more time to consider the sentence, and adjourned her decision to Friday.

Originally published as Wayne Hunt faces Supreme Court after crushing 11-year-old Daemarius Purcell-Appo with his ute against Moulden Supermarket wall