Maryborough, Queensland, crash: Parents of accused teenage driver heckled after court appearance
The parents of a teenage driver accused of killing three women and seriously injuring another were verbally abused and called “shameful idiots” when they arrived at their son’s court hearing.
A 13-year-old boy from Bundaberg, central Queensland, appeared in Maryborough Children’s Court on Tuesday charged with causing the fatal three-car accident on Sunday night.
A heckler waited outside the courthouse to confront the boy’s parents as they walked along Wharf St in the city center.
‘Idiots, idiots. Shameful parents,” the man yelled as the couple left the court, video footage.
‘Three people are dead! Three people are dead because of your son! Idiots,’ the man claimed.
The parents (above) of a 13-year-old boy from Bundaberg accused of causing the three-car accident that left three women dead and another seriously injured were harassed after they had their son’s court on Tuesday to leave
Police have charged the Bundaberg teen with three counts of dangerously operating a motor vehicle resulting in death and one count of unlawfully operating a motor vehicle.
It is alleged that the Mercedes-Benz was stolen at 8.40pm on Sunday from a home on Dalhousie Street, 1.6 miles from the crash site.
CCTV footage showed two hooded figures taking the car with them.
Police believe the car then drove around Maryborough and Hervey Bay before colliding with a Holden traveling south on Saltwater Creek Road at around 10:45 p.m.
The force of the crash then sent the Holden into a Mazda traveling in the opposite direction.
Former Riverside Christian College student Kelsie Davies, 17, and Reach Church pastor Michale Chandler, 29, were in the Holden and died in the crash.
Kaylah Behrens, 23, was the third person to travel in the Holden and was left badly injured. As of Tuesday morning, she was still in critical condition.
Maryborough Hospital nurse Sheree Robertson (above) was driving home after her shift in the Mazda and was killed in Sunday’s accident
Former Riverside Christian College student Kelsie Davies (right) and Reach Church pastor Michale Chandler (left) traveled in the Holden and died in the crash
Maryborough Hospital nurse Sheree Robertson, 52, was driving home after her shift in the Mazda and was killed.
a GoFundMe by Reach Church raised more than $34,000 for the four women’s families, including a $4,000 donation from another local church.
The 13-year-old indicted driver was treated for minor injuries to his feet following the horror crash before being taken into custody at Maryborough guardhouse.
Officers are investigating whether there was a passenger in the Mercedes that took off.
Anyone with information or footage of the car is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.
Ian Leavers, chairman of the Queensland Police Union, used the crash to highlight why the legal age of criminal responsibility should not be raised to 14.
Currently, Australian children between the ages of 10 and 14 are subject to criminal law as long as it can be proven that they were capable of understanding their actions.
However, a 2020 report from the Permanent Council of Attorneys General found that children under the age of 14 do not have this capacity and thus should not be punished under the same laws as those who do – meaning they are not criminally responsible.
Kaylah Behrens (right) remains in critical condition after the Holden she was traveling in was hit by the supposedly stolen Mercedes
A GoFundMe for the four women’s families has raised more than $34,000 (pictured, flowers left at the crash site on Tuesday)
Mr Leavers denounced the finding, saying current measures such as curfews are ineffective against young offenders and ‘punish the common child’.
“These young people love this alleged 13-year-old, they are nothing but criminals. We have to deal with them, the courts have to hold them accountable,” he said.
“The courts need to step up when we lock these kids up.”
Mr Leavers said he knows Maryborough and Hervey Bay well from his 30 years with the Queensland Police Force.
“There is a core group of less than a dozen young people who are causing chaos and endangering the community,” he said.
“They need to be locked up and imprisoned because they cannot live by society’s norms.
States across Australia want to raise the age of criminal liability to 14. That would mean that this 13-year-old will not be held accountable.
“We can’t even take them to court.”
Police claim the Mercedes-Benz hit the Holden, causing it to crash into the Mazda (pictured, the aftermath of the crash)
Queensland Police Union chairman Ian Leavers (above) denounced the recommendation that children under 14 should not be considered criminally responsible, saying: ‘Young people like this alleged 13-year-old, they are nothing but criminals’
Instead, Mr Leavers urged police to intervene early by holding children’s parents accountable.
“We need to look at other programs and things that we can put in place at a very young age because when a lot of these kids turn 12 or 13, that’s a learned behavior,” Mr Leavers said.
They are repeat offenders and we can’t change that.
“We have to look at the parents and carers.”