Dad’s plea for answers
Family desperate to find out how Sam died
THE father of a popular Aussie rules player who died after being found on the side of the Gold Coast Hwy is pleading for witnesses to come forward almost six years later.
Sam Brown, 20, was found with severe head injuries in Mermaid Beach about 2.30am on November 25, 2012 and died in hospital.
The circumstances of his death are under investigation in a coronial inquest held over the past three days in Southport.
Sam’s dad, Tim Brown, made a heartfelt plea outside the courthouse yesterday.
“If anyone knows anything of that night just come forward ... no matter how trivial it is,” he said. “Someone knows something and they are not telling us.”
Mr Brown said the last six years had been “horrendous” not knowing what happened to Sam.
“We just want to get to the end of it,” he said.
“Finally maybe we are getting to the end of it.”
Sam, who played for the Burleigh Bombers, was found on the side of the road with severe injuries after his friend Robert Cosgrove left him drunk, shoeless and without a mobile phone.
Gold Coast University Hospital senior intensive care special Dr Gregory Comadira told the inquest yesterday medical records showed Sam’s skull has been shattered and his brain was shaken.
“It’s the worst type of injury,” he said.
The court heard when Sam arrived at the hospital, he had a coma scale of three – the worst possible level.
Dr Comadira said the injury was consistent with a “high speed injury”.
“He didn’t fall from standing height,” he said.
Dr Comadira said the pattern of injuries were inconsistent with a fall from height and were also not consistent with being struck by a car.
The inquest has been adjourned to May 21 and 22 for specialist doctors to give evidence. a