Victorian coronial inquest into 2023 incident to begin in March

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A coronial inquest into the deaths of five people hit by a car outside the Daylesford hotel in regional Victoria in 2023 will begin in March next year. Criminal charges against driver William Swale, a type 1 diabetic, were dismissed in September after his lawyers successfully argued that a severe hypo-glycaemic attack impaired his driving.

Transcript

00:00Today was a very brief directions hearing. It was looking at the facts around the incident

00:08and what the next steps will be. As you mentioned, five people died, two children and three adults

00:14after a car crashed into an outdoor eating area outside a hotel in Dalesford, which is

00:21a very popular tourist town in regional Victoria, around 100 kilometres from Melbourne. Many

00:27other people were seriously injured, a range of injuries in the crash, and still others

00:33were left severely traumatised by the incident. It was a sunny afternoon and many people were

00:38outside enjoying the town and having a meal with family and friends.

00:45The car was being driven by 67-year-old William Swale, who is a Type 1 diabetic. As you mentioned,

00:52he was charged with culpable driving and a number of other charges, but they were dismissed

00:57last year after a magistrate accepted the argument from his lawyers that his driving was impaired

01:04by a hypoglycemic attack. Today, the coroner in Victoria, Demetra Dubrow, said an inquest

01:11will start next year. It will look broadly at how the incident could have been prevented

01:16and how further such incidents could be prevented from happening. She says there could be around

01:2260 witnesses, including a large number of bystanders, family members of those involved, emergency

01:29services who attended the scene and others. And there was also CCTV from the area. The

01:36inquest will also hear from the local Hepburn Springs Council, which is the council for the

01:43Dalesford region. Expert witnesses will include a road safety expert and an endocrinologist.

01:49The coroner says it will look at reducing the risks to outdoor diners from traffic from cars

01:55and safe driving by diabetic drivers. The driver, William Swale, has exercised his right not

02:02to give a statement.

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