UNLICENSED TO KILL
‘Road Warrior’ jailed over relative’s death in Cape rollover
HE called himself the Road Warrior, but when Gordon Stewart Gothachalkenin rolled a car near Pormpuraaw and killed a loved relative - he fled the scene as a coward.
The father of five, now 39, crashed a friend’s car at more than 100km/h at the Mungken River Access Rd on April 19 last year. After skidding up and over the lefthand shoulder of the dirt road, the car rolled and finally stopped on the passenger side.
One passenger, 65, was thrown from the back window and suffered fatal chest and abdominal injuries.
He was the driver’s great uncle.
Cairns District Court yesterday heard Gothachalkenin – an unlicensed motorist who had never held more than an L-plate – suggested the friends go for a drive with him at the wheel.
Gothachalkenin, his great uncle (not named for cultural reasons), Lloyd William, Christopher Woolla and Elvis Bowenda, piled into William’s car after drinking one and half four-litre casks of wine.
As Gothachalkenin sped down Mungken River Access Rd, he ignored Mr William’s pleas to slow down and stop.
“(He showed) reckless indifference even in the face of passenger requests to slow down,” crown prosecutor Eddie Coker said.
“He knew he shouldn’t be driving; he made the deliberate choice to drive and had drunk beforehand.”
Soon the car would be on its side, one man thrown to the roadside 30m away and Mr William would suffer a fractured arm.
Mr William pulled himself from the wreckage and punched Gothachalkenin, who then knocked him out with an implement.
Gothachalkenin then turned on Mr Woolla and Mr Bowenda.
“He said if they reported him, he would kill them,” Mr Coker said. “He walked away.”
Gothachalkenin was arrested the next day.
In the cell window he scratched his nickname: Road Warrior.
“He told police he had that nickname because he had rolled seven vehicles,” Mr Coker said.
The defendant pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death, unlawful use of a motor vehicle, unlicensed driving, assault and wilful damage of police property.
The court heard he had at least five dangerous driving convictions.
Rachelle Logan, defending, said her client, who had grown up between Pormpuraaw and Aurukun, had “felt great shame” for killing his great uncle.
“He has asked forgiveness from that family,” Ms Logan said.
Judge Anthony Rafter jailed the defendant for seven and a half years including 484 days time served with a parole release date of November 19, 2020.
He will be absolutely disqualified from driving for at least two years.