Ngoc Thanh Vo faces charges after allegedly crashing into two children playing football in Melbourne’s Braybrook
A driver accused of hitting two children playing football on a laneway behind their grandparents’ house was unfamiliar with driving and had only been in Australia for six days.
Vo Ngoc Thanh, 48, was charged with dangerous driving after a crash in Braybrook, Melbourne’s west, on Tuesday evening.
A three-year-old boy suffered minor injuries, while an eight-year-old boy underwent surgery for multiple serious injuries after being pinned between two cars.
Vo, who arrived in Australia from Vietnam six days before the incident, is said to have mistaken the accelerator for the brake as he drove along the lane behind four townhouses.
Vo Ngoc Thanh, 48, has been charged after allegedly crashing into two boys playing football in a laneway in Melbourne’s Braybrook on Tuesday
Police told the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday that Vo was unlicensed and generally unfamiliar with driving a car when he went for a drive around the block alone in a Toyota Prado.
Vo has never had a permit.
CCTV footage shows Vo returning to the lane where the vehicle suddenly accelerated and hit three parked cars and the two children.
The younger boy was hit by one of the parked cars, while the older boy was pinned between the Prado’s bull bar and the back of a second car.
Both he and the car were pushed over a concrete gutter at the end of the lane, over a grass embankment, over a road and into the fence of a neighboring property, the court heard.
Vo, who arrived in Australia from Vietnam six days before the incident, is said to have mistaken the accelerator for the brake as he drove in the lane behind four townhouses (pictured emergency services on the scene and one of the cars damaged in the incident)
He remained trapped for about 20 minutes until emergency services arrived and suffered pelvic, leg and femoral artery injuries that required multiple surgeries, police said.
The eight-year-old is likely to spend the next few months in hospital recovering, while his younger brother suffered minor injuries.
The court heard Vo was in Australia on a partner visa and living with his wife who supported him in court.
Police have asked for 12 weeks to compile evidence, which is expected to include a mechanical reconstruction of the crash and a forensic analysis of the boys’ injuries.
Vo, who is out on bail, is due back in court on January 31 next year.
He has also been charged with reckless conduct endangering serious injury, driving without a license and careless driving.
Under his bail conditions, Vo had to surrender his passport and report to police twice a week.