An Indian-origin man in Australian has been charged with a number of offences after he fatally crashed his truck into a car, killing four members of a family.
Jobandeep Gill, 27, was denied bail in a bedside hearing in a hospital after he ran a stop sign and crashed into the car carrying five members of a family at Catani, a rural locality near Melbourne, Friday morning, the Melbourne Age reported Saturday.
While Stephen Beckett, 37, Jade Beckett, 33, Ella, six, and William, two, died after the car burst into flames, nine-year-old Sammy was pulled out from the car by a passer-by.
The family was on their way to drop Sammy and Ella to school when the accident took place Friday morning.
Gill, a sub-contractor for a trucking company called Asixa at Pakenham, a suburb of Melbourne, has been charged with four counts of culpable driving causing death, four counts of dangerous driving causing death, one count of reckless conduct endangering life and one count of failing to stop at a stop sign, the Age report said.
Injured too in the fatal crash and under police guard in hospital, he will be produced in the Melbourne Magistrate’s Court Tuesday.
Orphaned Sammy will be traumatised for life, police said.
“This is an horrific scene,” police officer Robert Hill was quoted as saying.
“We have a vehicle that is incinerated and we’ve got a number of corpses in that car,” he said.
The force of the crash pushed the car about 40 metres before the truck rolled on top of it and both vehicles burst into flames.
The Beckett family lived in the small town of Poowong, 111 km from Melbourne, with Stephen and his wife Jade working in a dairy.
The incident has devastated the small local community.
“It was very difficult for everybody and to know that a whole family has been wiped out, all but one, in a situation like that,” Bill Loughridge, co-owner of the farm where the Becketts worked, told Fairfax Radio 3AW.
“Well, it has devastated all our workers,” he said.
IANS
Published in The Indian Sun (Indian Magazine in Melbourne)
Donate To The Indian Sun
Dear Reader,The Indian Sun is an independent organisation committed to community journalism. We have, through the years, been able to reach a wide audience especially with the growth of social media, where we also have a strong presence. With platforms such as YouTube videos, we have been able to engage in different forms of storytelling. However, the past few years, like many media organisations around the world, it has not been an easy path. We have a greater challenge. We believe community journalism is very important for a multicultural country like Australia. We’re not able to do everything, but we aim for some of the most interesting stories and journalism of quality. We call upon readers like you to support us and make any contribution. Do make a DONATION NOW so we can continue with the volume and quality journalism that we are able to practice.
Thank you for your support.
Best wishes,
Team The Indian Sun
