Truth of deadly night at inquest
Man admits to abandoning drunk friend before he died
BURLEIGH bombers player Sam Brown was left on the side of the road drunk, shoeless and without a working mobile phone by one of his close mates, who lied for three years about what happened the night he died.
Robert Cosgrove yesterday told a coronial inquest in Southport he had left Mr Brown, 20, in order to meet a girl he had been talking to via an online dating website.
Less than half an hour later Mr Brown was found on the side of the Gold Coast Highway at Mermaid Beach about 2.30am on November 25, 2012, with severe head and facial injuries.
He later died in hospital. Mr Cosgrove, who now works for the Logan City Council, was the last to see him before the accident and for years said he had lost track of where Mr Brown was. The revelation of the lie left Mr Brown’s family reeling.
“What has our family ever done to you?” Mr Brown’s mother, Leanne Brown, yelled from the back of the courtroom.
Mr Brown’s brother Nick stormed from the courtroom when he heard Mr Cosgrove had been using his name to pick up a girl named “Kitty” via the online dating site.
“Are you (expletive) kidding me,” he yelled before leaving.
Mr Cosgrove told the inquest he had maintained he had “lost” Mr Brown on a night out until police confronted him in 2015 with the text messages he sent to Kitty arranging to meet.
“I was riddled with guilt about leaving him behind and what happened afterwards,” Mr Cosgrove said.
The pair had been walking from Mermaid Beach to Broadbeach to go to nightclubs after a mutual friend’s birthday party.
He said he knew Mr Brown was drunk, did not have any shoes on and that his mobile phone battery was flat.
“I was ashamed I just walked away from my mate,” Mr Cosgrove said.
As Mr Cosgrove left, Mr Brown’s family called him a “coward” and a “dog”.
Police believed Mr Brown had been struck by a car and charged former taxi driver Justin Hartley with failing to stop at an accident.
The charges were dropped.
Police forensic Senior later
crash investigator Constable Steve Cornish said Mr Cosgrove’s explanation of events had gaps.
“He was inconsistent, incoherent and vague,” he said.
“He provides at least four different versions around what their particular movements were.”
Friends of Mr Brown told the inquest Mr Cosgrove had not spoken at length about what night.
Snr Constable Cornish told the inquest he spent months trying to piece together what had happened but concluded Mr Brown was not struck by a car.
He said there were no injuries on Mr Brown’s feet despite the fact he was not wearing shoes. had happened that
Snr Const Cornish said there was also no debris on the road nor road rash on Mr Brown.
He said none of the main factors that usually occurred in pedestrian accidents were present at the scene – something he had never seen before.
The today. inquest continues