By Georgina Mitchell
The wife of a scientist who was fatally run over by Kenneth Grant has told a court she was in a state of shock for months after the hit-and-run crash and felt rage when she saw police footage showing the driver drunk in the minutes after the incident.
Grant, 72, the father of former NSW police minister Troy Grant, drank beer and wine at a Christmas party at Bolwarra in the Hunter region on the evening of November 30, 2019, then decided to get into his car and drive home.
Kenneth Grant fatally ran over scientist Tony Greenfield and did not stop.Credit: James Alcock
Tony Greenfield, 62, a respected scientist who was researching ways to improve blood transfusions, and his wife Nerida Greenfield had also left the party and were walking on the side of the road to their accommodation.
Grant – whose blood alcohol was recorded as being .194 – left the road about 800 metres from the party and hit Mr Greenfield, sending him flying through the air and leaving him with fatal injuries. He did not stop and was later stopped by police due to erratic driving.
Grant faced a judge-alone trial in the NSW District Court last year and was found guilty of dangerous driving occasioning death, failing to stop and assist after a vehicle impact causing death, not stopping during a police pursuit, and mid-range drink-driving.
On Friday, Mrs Greenfield told a sentencing hearing she clearly remembers hearing a terrible noise like a wind tunnel that night and seeing an object flying through the air. When it landed 20 metres in front of her, she realised it was her husband.
Killed in 2019: transfusion specialist Tony Greenfield.
“Tony was killed right in front of me, and I was in shock for months,” she said. “I felt like my brain couldn’t process what I had seen. I was with him beside the road, I could see he had terrible injuries. I was with him in hospital after he was declared.
“I knew he was gone, but I just couldn’t believe it. After being married to Tony for 34 years, I distinctly remember the feeling that part of my body was missing.”
Mrs Greenfield said she watched the trial and was “speechless” at the extent of Grant’s intoxication that evening, which was depicted on police body camera vision, along with his “astounding” remarks that his son was police minister.
“It’s difficult to describe the rage I felt after seeing this,” she said.
Mrs Greenfield said she wanted to make it clear that her husband and Grant were not friends, despite distressing media reports to the contrary.
“The truth is Tony didn’t know this man at all,” she said.
Mr Greenfield’s daughter Bronwen Greenfield said her wedding day would be overshadowed by “immense loss” because her father would not be there.
Grant’s barrister Phillip Boulten, SC, said his client was intoxicated and confused that evening and originally intended to sleep at the home where the party was held.
He said Grant, who has no prior criminal record, was regularly consuming alcohol in the years prior to the incident because of a traumatic career as a police officer which left him with an “entrenched psychiatric disorder”.
“There is substantial evidence of remorse,” Mr Boulten said. “He’s never going to reoffend, in all likelihood.”
Troy Grant earlier told the hearing that his father experienced multiple traumatic incidents during his time in the police, including being kidnapped and tortured by four escapees from Emu Plains prison in 1977.
“He had a broken back and they chewed his ear and played Russian roulette with him and threatened to kill him,” Mr Grant said. “He suffered significant physical and mental health issues at the time.”
He said his father had not touched alcohol since the crash.
Crown prosecutor Lee Carr accepted Grant had shown genuine remorse, but said this should be given limited weight due to the circumstances of gross abandonment of responsibility.
Grant will be sentenced on March 4.
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