An 18-year-old P-plate driver accused of injuring 10 Newcastle Knights supporters when his BMW struck a crowd had previously been suspended from driving, court records show.
Indika Bambrick Samarasinghe was suspended in February and unsuccessfully appealed against the decision in April. His licence has been suspended again following Saturday’s crash in Newcastle, New South Wales.
Samarasinghe was arrested at the scene and taken for mandatory drug and alcohol testing. He has been charged with three counts each of dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm, negligent driving occasioning grievous bodily harm and causing bodily harm by misconduct in charge of a motor vehicle.
He appeared in court on Sunday, looking forlorn and with what appeared to be an injury to his left eye. He did not apply for bail, while his barrister, Chun-Yuan Shieh, asked for the teenager to be medically assessed in custody.
The court heard he faces a maximum sentence of seven years in prison if convicted. He is due to appear again on October 15.
Newcastle Knights supporters injured in crash
The 10 people were standing along a Newcastle street to wave off the Knights as the team prepared to travel to the NRL grand final.
A five-year-old girl was in a serious but stable condition at John Hunter Hospital on Sunday morning. A 67-year-old patient was also seriously but stably ill, while four other people, including a two-year-old and another five-year-old girl, were stable.
Four injured people were discharged on Saturday, including three men in their 20s and a 63-year-old woman.
Dave “the barber” Martin, one of the seriously injured supporters, was caring for his two young granddaughters when the crash happened, according to Wallsend MP Sonia Hornery.
Hornery said Martin had managed to save the girls and taken the force of the impact, suffering multiple fractures to both legs. He underwent eight hours of surgery at John Hunter Hospital and was recovering, she said.
Another injured supporter, Chris Clancy, said the car appeared to accelerate as it travelled through a roundabout before losing control on the wet road.
“No-one had time to move,” Clancy said. “I thought I was going to die, it happened so fast.”
Police said the two other people in the BMW, both men aged 18 and 19, were not injured. The 20-year-old convertible has been seized for forensic examination.
NSW Police Assistant Commissioner David Waddell said officers were investigating reports that the P-plater had been driving erratically before losing control.
Footage posted on social media appeared to show the BMW, which had personalised number plates, travelling around the roundabout shortly before the crash. Onlookers could be heard screaming.
Police said members of the crowd became angry after the collision. Waddell said officers had to remove all three occupants from the scene after the crowd turned on them.
Witness Dean Liddell said he heard the vehicle approaching before “all hell broke loose”. He said people pulled the driver from the wreckage and a scuffle began before police intervened.
The Knights’ bus had not yet left when the crash happened and was later rerouted. Players were informed of the collision as emergency crews treated the injured.
Newcastle Lord Mayor Gavin Morris said the community had rallied behind those affected, while staff at John Hunter Hospital had come in on days off because of the number of casualties.
“And then yesterday we had our hearts ripped out,” Morris said, describing the crash after a week of celebrations for the team.
