Day 2: Robbie Awad Hamilton Island buggy death case in Proserpine Magistrates Court

A haunted husband has been cleared of causing a buggy crash during a dream island honeymoon which ended his wife’s life and changed his forever.

A Sydney man and his family let out cries of relief as he was found not guilty of causing the death of his new bride in a buggy crash during their luxury Queensland honeymoon.

Newlyweds Robbie Awad and Marina Hanna had been holidaying at Hamilton Island’s five-star Qualia resort when the crash happened on June 20, 2022.

Mr Awad had pleaded guilty ahead of a trial at Proserpine Magistrates Court this week to not wearing a seatbelt, not ensuring passengers wear seatbelts and using his mobile phone behind the wheel.

However, he pleaded not guilty to driving without due care and attention causing death and maintained the buggy was faulty - a claim which was backed by a traffic engineer in court.

During the trial, distressing footage of the moment police arrived at the scene to find Robbie Awad distraught and 29-year-old Marina Hanna dead in 2022 was played in court.

On it, he could be seen telling the officer: “I can’t believe she’s dead - we just got married”.

Robbie Awad and Marina Hanna at the wedding in 2022. Picture: Facebook

Mr Awad told the court that in the moments before the crash, the buggy struggled to accelerate up the hill and he said to his wife “there’s something wrong with the buggy, we’ll go back get it fixed or get a different buggy”.

But because it was too steep, he made the decision to make the u-turn further ahead and the buggy flipped.

He also admitted that moments before the buggy sped up, his wife had asked him to put his phone away and he’d replied “what’s the worst that could happen?” given they were travelling at slow speed.

Traffic engineer Grant Johnston was the last witness to give evidence on Friday.

The police prosecutor had asked Magistrate Kerrie O’Callaghan not to allow Mr Johnston to sit with Mr Awad’s legal team during the trial, as hearing other witnesses could stop him from “being objective”.

The couple were riding in a buggy on Hamilton Island when it crashed, claiming Marina’s life.

However, Ms O’Callaghan allowed Mr Johnston on the grounds that hearing other evidence would not impact his “expert opinion”.

Mr Johnston, hired by the defence to conduct his own investigation, told the court the alleged defect which led to the unexpected acceleration, not the manner of driving, should be considered as the cause of the crash.

He used new app Recon 3D to create a mapping of the scene that turned into a static environment, before he was able to virtually test the buggy’s different trajectories.

“It simulated the topography it would be subjected to through that turn,” he told the court.

Earlier, Sergeant Gemma Williamson from the Forensic Crash Unit had suggested to the court the absence of seat belts could have impacted the trajectory of the vehicle with weight in the vehicle being shifted in a sharp turn.

Mr Johnston said he did not agree with this assessment stating the buggy seat belts would not have restricted the couple’s movements by much.

“Wearing the seatbelts wouldn’t have made a difference anyway, but the movement wouldn’t have had a big impact either,” he said.

Robbie Awad arrives at Proserpine Court. Photo: Andrew Pattinson

He submitted that in the face of a defective vehicle that struggled to go up a hill, it was a sensible decision to advance on the road going downhill first.

“He would have done the U-turn without a problem if there hadn’t been that accelerating charge,” he said.

In his closing argument, Mr Boulten told the court the “fact that (Mr Awad’s) wife died did not prove the charge”, just the same as “the fact that that there might have been a better option” did not prove his manner of driving had been dangerous.

“This was an accident that occurred when a man doing his best made very difficult decisions in a difficult context.

“The catastrophic consequences were not his fault.”

Robbie Awad and Marina Hanna on their wedding day before their Hamilton Island honeymoon took a tragic turn.

Magistrate Kerrie O’Callaghan returned the not-guilty decision on Friday afternoon.

She said the prosecution had failed to provide “substantial evidence” that had Mr Awad performed the u-turn any other way the result would have been different.

She accepted Mr Awad did not have enough time to react or try to brake when the acceleration occurred.

For the seatbelt and phone offences, Mr Awad was fined $3483, telling him he’d had an “extensive” period of time to reflect on his mistakes.

Outside court, Mr Awad did not speak to the waiting media.

Originally published as Day 2: Robbie Awad Hamilton Island buggy death case in Proserpine Magistrates Court