Decision to let Daylesford pub crash driver walk free could be challenged, legal expert says

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Legal experts say a decision to allow the driver involved in the Daylesford crash – which killed five people – to walk free could be challenged by prosecutors.

Transcript

00:00The Australian Lawyers' Alliance says that the Victorian Director of Public Prosecution

00:07has the power to directly indict 67-year-old William Swale, even though a magistrate has

00:14thrown out the charges against him.

00:16The Alliance says that this option has always been in the fabric of Victoria's criminal

00:21justice system, although it's not commonly used and realistically it would be a pretty

00:26brave move by the DPP to take this option given that the magistrate ruled that there

00:32was insufficient evidence to support a conviction if this case went before a jury.

00:38Now if we just remind our viewers about this particular case and how this idyllic Sunday

00:44afternoon turned to absolute tragedy when an SUV mounted the kerb and crashed into a

00:51group of diners, killing five people and injuring others.

00:56Now behind the wheel of that car was William Swale, but his lawyers argued that this was

01:03not a voluntary and conscious act and that's because he had suffered a hypoglycemic episode

01:11caused by dangerously low blood sugar levels brought about by his type 1 diabetes.

01:18Now this is something that the magistrate agreed that prosecutors had failed to prove

01:24otherwise, that it was a voluntary act and the magistrate said that this was a key element

01:30of those culpable driving charges causing death and without that the evidence against

01:36Mr Swale was weak and there was a minimal chance of any successful conviction.

01:43We've also heard from Brian Hood who is the Mayor of the Hepburn Shire and he says that

01:48the Council was in the early planning stages of just how they were going to go about commemorating

01:53the first anniversary of this horrific crash.

01:57He says they'd been speaking to counselling experts as well as the families on how to

02:02make it a sensitive and respectful commemoration, but this no doubt will cast a long shadow

02:08over those events and he says that many people in the community will also feel confused and

02:16upset by the legal intricacies of this case.

02:19In the meantime, Mr Swale's lawyers say they will be applying for legal costs from the

02:25Police Chief Commissioner.

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