‘There but for the grace of God goes my wife and kids’
FOR A week and a half the witnesses came and went.
Some were asked why so little was done after the tragic death of Sam Leonardi and her six-year-old son Samuel.
Some spoke about how to make roads safer for crane drivers and for other motorists.
Through it all, John Leonardi sat, until he had his own chance to talk about the impact of that September 2013 crash.
He was no stranger to loss. His mum passed away when he was 17. His sister died when he was 32.
“As difficult as that was, it doesn’t really compare to losing your child and your wife,” he said, as the inquest concluded this week.
“I remember after the accident, and in the emergency department, all three of my children badly injured.”
Christine Leonardi – originally from Stanthorpe and known to everyone as Sam – had been driving her children to school in Toowoomba when an out of control 20-tonne crane ploughed into the family ute.
John Leonardi described the “realisation of being alone and not being able to be beside all of them” at the same time.
“Knowing that I’d lost my wife, knowing that when my daughters came to, I’d have to let them know they no longer had their mum.”
The loss also devastated friends, colleagues, and the wider community.
It was now important to ensure reforms were introduced to make the roads safer, he said.
“I really hope to see changes made, and their death wasn’t for nothing. My belief is, there are issues that need to be addressed, mainly in regard to speed, mainly in regard to licensing,” he told Coroner John Hutton.
“That can be addressed and it’s important, as you made quite clear, for the safety of everyone else that uses the road,” Mr Leonardi added.
Coroner Hutton said reduced speed limits for cranes plus driver training and licensing reforms were achievable.
He wanted to ensure authorities nationwide were alerted to his recommendations.
Though the Coroner conceded “it’s up to them to decide what to do”, he said people with the chance to make a difference would be unwise to leave the fate of their own loved ones to chance.
At the forefront of everybody’s minds, he said, should be the thought: “There but for the grace of God goes my wife and kids.”
The Coroner will hand down his findings at a later date. –NewsRegional