Cardross road accident
Encyclopedia
Hit and run (vehicular)
Hit-and-run is the act of causing a traffic accident , and failing to stop and identify oneself afterwards...
accident at Cardross, Victoria
Cardross, Victoria
Cardross is a small town approximately 15 km south east of Mildura, in north western Victoria, Australia. At the 2006 census, Cardross and the surrounding area had a population of 739...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
at 9.50pm on 18 February 2006, where a driver driving a Ford BA Falcon
Ford BA Falcon
The Ford BA Falcon is a full-size car, produced by the Ford Motor Company of Australia between September 2002 and October 2005. The exterior styling of the BA was a substantial revision of that used for the preceding AU model. A new independent rear suspension setup was fitted to all sedan...
station wagon, collided with a group of thirteen teenage pedestrians, killing five immediately and injuring eight more. The teenagers were walking along Myall Street, Cardross to a party in nearby Red Cliffs
Red Cliffs, Victoria
Red Cliffs is a town in Victoria, Australia in the Sunraysia region. It is located on the Calder Highway, 16 km south of Mildura and 544 km north-west of Melbourne....
after being dropped by a taxi
Taxicab
A taxicab, also taxi or cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice...
at an incorrect address.
Cassandra Manners, 16, Stevie-Lee Weight, 15, Cory Dowling, 16, Abby Hirst, 17 and her 16 year old brother Shane Hirst all died at the scene. Josephine Calvi, 16, died the following day at the Royal Adelaide Hospital
Royal Adelaide Hospital
The Royal Adelaide Hospital is Adelaide's largest hospital, with 680 beds. Founded in 1840, the Royal Adelaide provides tertiary health care services for South Australia and provides secondary care clinical services to residents of Adelaide's city centre and inner suburbs.The hospital is situated...
.
On 20 February 2006, Thomas Graham Towle, an unemployed 35-year-old father of six from Red Cliffs
Red Cliffs, Victoria
Red Cliffs is a town in Victoria, Australia in the Sunraysia region. It is located on the Calder Highway, 16 km south of Mildura and 544 km north-west of Melbourne....
appeared in the Mildura Magistrates Court, facing 17 charges, including six of culpable driving, five of negligently causing serious injury and one of failing to stop after an accident. Towle made no application for bail
Bail
Traditionally, bail is some form of property deposited or pledged to a court to persuade it to release a suspect from jail, on the understanding that the suspect will return for trial or forfeit the bail...
and was remand
Detention of suspects
The detention of suspects is the process of keeping a person who has been arrested in a police-cell, remand prison or other detention centre before trial or sentencing. One criticism of pretrial detention is that eventual acquittal can be a somewhat hollow victory, in that there is no way to...
ed in custody and ordered to reappear before the Mildura Magistrates Court for a committal hearing to begin during March 2007. His trial
Trial
A trial is, in the most general sense, a test, usually a test to see whether something does or does not meet a given standard.It may refer to:*Trial , the presentation of information in a formal setting, usually a court...
before the Supreme Court began in Melbourne on 4 February 2008.
Aftermath
- "We are now aware that we have lost our beautiful children overnight. In a moment of time, our lives have been changed forever. No words can describe what we are and will be going through.
The Government of Victoria
Government of Victoria
The Government of Victoria, under the Constitution of Australia, ceded certain legislative and judicial powers to the Commonwealth, but retained complete independence in all other areas...
announced it would provide A$40,000 for counselling of victims and relatives.
Former Prime Minister, John Howard
John Howard
John Winston Howard AC, SSI, was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He was the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies....
issued a statement following the accident,
- "It is just such a tragic loss of young lives. It is heartbreaking. Young kids out on a Saturday night to enjoy themselves and something like this happens. I, like all other Australians, (am) dreadfully sorry. I can't do more than express my profound sympathy and condolences to those who have lost their children and their friends in this terrible accident."
Michael Jeffery
Michael Jeffery
Major General Philip Michael Jeffery AC, CVO, MC was the 24th Governor-General of Australia , the first Australian career soldier to be appointed governor-general...
, the Governor-General of Australia
Governor-General of Australia
The Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia is the representative in Australia at federal/national level of the Australian monarch . He or she exercises the supreme executive power of the Commonwealth...
, also sent a message of condolence to the Mildura community, which he had visited during 2005.
Two minutes silence was observed at the Lock Rock Music Festival held in Mildura a week after the accident, on 25 February 2006. The festival was hosted by radio announcer and former Red Cliffs resident, Myf Warhurst
Myf Warhurst
Myfanwy "Myf" Warhurst is an Australian radio announcer and television personality, best known for her work at Triple J and on ABC Television's music-themed quiz show Spicks and Specks. Before her career as a radio announcer and TV personality, she was editor-in-chief of Melbourne street press...
.
Towle's family, including his children, reported receiving threats from members of the community, forcing police to make an announcement appealing for calm. Acting Inspector Michael Talbot of the Major Collision Investigation Unit was quoted as saying,
- "Creating more tensions is not going to help them. It's not going to help their families come to grips with what has happened. We, as the community, the police, the people of Mildura, all need to work together to keep calm on this and ensure that everything's done smoothly, properly and there's no trouble caused."
The father of the accused, Graham Towle, offered his condolences, saying
- "... with pain and tears, I want everyone to know I feel so sorry for the families and friends of the grieving and dreadful loss that has happened. The community has rallied around all concerned and I, as the father and grandfather, publicly thank them for their kindness and words of compassion."
Following Towle's trial, his father, Graham Towle made public statements blaming the victims and their parents for the accident, and claiming his son was blameless.
On 18 February 2007, a memorial service
Funeral
A funeral is a ceremony for celebrating, sanctifying, or remembering the life of a person who has died. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember the dead, from interment itself, to various monuments, prayers, and rituals undertaken in their honor...
was held at Mildura
Mildura, Victoria
Mildura is a regional city in northwestern Victoria, Australia and seat of the Rural City of Mildura local government area. It is located in the Sunraysia region, and is on the banks of the Murray River. The current population is estimated at just over 30,000.Mildura is a major agricultural centre...
's Henderson Park to mark the first anniversary of the accident. A permanent roadside memorial
Roadside memorial
A roadside memorial is a marker that usually commemorates a site where a person died suddenly and unexpectedly, away from home. Unlike a grave site headstone, which marks where a body is laid, the memorial marks the last place on earth where a person was alive - although in the past travelers were...
was erected at the scene of the accident in early 2007. http://maps.google.com.au/maps?hl=en&q=Myall%20Street%2C%20Cardross&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=il
Committal hearing
A committal hearing began in Mildura before Magistrate Donna Bakos on 19 March 2007. A total of 42 witnesses including 28 children were called during the two week hearing. Towle was not required to attend the committal hearing due to concerns for his safety and appeared briefly via video link at the beginning of committal proceedings.It was alleged Towle drank bourbon whiskey
Bourbon whiskey
Bourbon is a type of American whiskey – a barrel-aged distilled spirit made primarily from corn. The name of the spirit derives from its historical association with an area known as Old Bourbon, around what is now Bourbon County, Kentucky . It has been produced since the 18th century...
mixed with Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...
earlier in the day and allowed his four year old child to sit on his lap while driving at speeds of up to 150 kilometres per hour shortly before the accident occurred. Witness, Matthew Orsini, denied the group of teenagers had been walking on the road.
Towle told police he was travelling at approximately 90 kilometres per hour, and that the corner "just jumped out at him".
- "By the time I was at the corner, it was pretty sharp, I put me foot on the brake and lost control of the car and then it went sideways into a group of people ... so close to the road."
Towle described the scene to police as "absolute horror".
- "People laying down were saying, 'please help me'. I went over to one lady who was unconsciousUnconsciousnessUnconsciousness is the condition of being not conscious—in a mental state that involves complete or near-complete lack of responsiveness to people and other environmental stimuli. Being in a comatose state or coma is a type of unconsciousness. Fainting due to a drop in blood pressure and a...
and said are you all right and someone said 'you just get away from them', then I thought with the other fellas on the road, you know, I better get out of here. There was two cars that had pulled up so I knew that there was help on its way, I just didn’t leave them stranded."
Towle fled the scene, leaving his four year old son and ten year old daughter behind. He telephoned police to notify them of his whereabouts five hours after the accident. Andrew Arden, a teenager present at the crash scene, denied threatening to kill
Death threat
A death threat is a threat of death, often made anonymously, by one person or a group of people to kill another person or groups of people. These threats are usually designed to intimidate victims in order to manipulate their behavior, thus a death threat is a form of coercion...
Towle immediately after the accident occurred, however admitted during committal hearing proceedings he yelled at Towle, saying "You f****n' bastard, what have you done?" and then threw a beer bottle at him.
Towle was reported to be hysterical and suicidal in the hours following the accident. On advice from his lawyer, Towle also refused to provide a blood sample to police.
Towle later told police,
- "I don't believe I did – I did anything wrong. It was a complete accident ... no driver in the world would have been able to control that corner, not even Michael Schumacher ... unless there were was a speed sign saying to slow down as the corner was approaching."
Defence lawyer for Towle, Brendan Murphy, QC
Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...
said the legal rights of his client had been damaged, saying,
- "It will be demonstrated throughout this committal that there has been carried out by Victorian police investigators a sanitisation of statements of witnesses and as a result there has been an exclusion of important factors and this could have the result of depriving the defendant in this case a fair go."
The vehicle allegedly involved in the accident was sent to Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
for scrap metal
Scrap
Scrap is a term used to describe recyclable and other materials left over from every manner of product consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap has significant monetary value...
without the consent of the defendants defence team.
ABC TV
ABC Television
ABC Television is a service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation launched in 1956. As a public broadcasting broadcaster, the ABC provides four non-commercial channels within Australia, and a partially advertising-funded satellite channel overseas....
's Media Watch highlighted a front page article in The Age
The Age
The Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...
newspaper where previous court attendances of the defendant were listed, an action Media Watch suggests could influence a jury
Jury
A jury is a sworn body of people convened to render an impartial verdict officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Modern juries tend to be found in courts to ascertain the guilt, or lack thereof, in a crime. In Anglophone jurisdictions, the verdict may be guilty,...
.
On 27 March 2007, Magistrate Donna Bakos ordered Towle to stand trial in the Supreme Court of Victoria
Supreme Court of Victoria
The Supreme Court of Victoria is the superior court for the State of Victoria, Australia. It was founded in 1852, and is a superior court of common law and equity, with unlimited jurisdiction within the state...
, and to appear for a directions hearing in the Supreme Court on 5 June 2007. Towle was formally refused bail, with Magistrate Bakos saying he was an unacceptable risk of fleeing.