Police officer deliberately hit
motorbike, causing rider’s death, court told
Sarah McPhee
By Sarah McPhee
March 14, 2022 — 3.53pm
A police officer’s collision with a motorcycle on the NSW Central Coast was
deliberate and substantially or significantly contributed to the rider’s death,
a court has heard.
Jack Roberts, 28, died when the NSW Police Force Kia Sorento hit the rear of his
Honda trail bike while in pursuit at Blue Haven in the early hours of April 16,
2020.
Sergeant Matthew James Kelly is on trial in the NSW District Court.
Sergeant Matthew James Kelly, 50, is on trial in the NSW District Court after
pleading not guilty to manslaughter by criminal negligence and the alternative
of dangerous driving occasioning death.
In his closing address on Monday, Crown prosecutor Craig Everson, SC, said
Sergeant Kelly had “on at least one notable matter, incorrectly recalled” what
happened.
In his recorded interview, Sergeant Kelly told detectives that when he stopped
the car on Blue Haven Way, he saw Mr Roberts lying on his back between the
vehicle’s wheels.
“The accused is clearly wrong about that,” Mr Everson said. “Jack Roberts was
face down under the accused’s car.”
He cited the evidence of a senior constable who had dragged the rider out and
rolled him over.
Mr Everson said the opinions of two defence witnesses were based on “some weak
foundations”, such as Sergeant Kelly’s evidence Mr Roberts had been “yelling
something”.
The Crown said a traffic controller, who arrived at the scene and saw someone
moving under the vehicle, was asked whether he had heard any words or noise and
replied, “No, not really.”
“It seems that only the accused claims to have heard Jack Roberts yelling
something from underneath the police car,” Mr Everson said.
Sergeant Kelly said he had “absolutely” felt there was a safety issue when he
initially saw the motorbike “riding without lights” and made a U-turn “with the
intention of stopping that cycle”.
“Prophetic words indeed,” Mr Everson said.
The prosecutor said the Crown asserts Sergeant Kelly “deliberately collided with
the motorcycle, as he had been planning to do” and this “deliberate collision
... substantially or significantly contributed to the death of Jack Roberts”.
‘I killed a man tonight’: Policeman in shock after fatal crash, court told
Allan Cala, who performed Mr Roberts’ autopsy, concluded the cause of death was
mechanical or traumatic asphyxia from being trapped under the car.
Mr Everson said the impact was a “substantial and operating cause of the death”,
and Dr Cala had testified that even if Mr Roberts had had no drugs in his
system, he “could have died [in] exactly the same way”.
Defence barrister James Glissan, QC, said Sergeant Kelly believed the rider was
“up to no good” and “that’s not a situation in which a responsible police
officer goes home”.
Mr Glissan said Sergeant Kelly’s attention had been drawn to an “unregistered,
unlit motorcycle” in “unchallenged circumstances, where ... trail bikes are
known to be used by people dealing drugs”.
In his closing address, he told the jury Mr Roberts was unlicensed, “high on
meth” and carrying small quantities of ice, an ice pipe and knife.
“Not somebody who is going to want to be stopped by police, you might reasonably
think.”
Mr Glissan said the jury should accept Sergeant Kelly had heard a yell, which
would be a “clear indication” the rider’s breathing was not restricted, and some
time had passed before the traffic worker arrived.
He said there was “simply no evidence about which way up” Mr Roberts had been
under the car and “who’s to say that he wasn’t rotating”.
He said forensic pharmacologist Judith Perl and pathologist Johan Duflou had
given evidence Mr Roberts had “four to five times the lethal dose” of
methamphetamine in his system at the time, and Dr Perl had indicated this would
have impaired his driving ability.
“The death here is cardiac arrest,” Mr Glissan said. “There is no evidence of an
acceptable kind that establishes a limitation on respiration capable of
supporting crush injury causing asphyxiation.”
Judge Phillip Mahony began summing up on Monday, before the jury retires to
consider its verdict.