Boat crash witness lied
’Intoxicated’ witness changes statement in court
A WITNESS to a Groper Creek boat crash, in which Home Hill man Justin Scott was thrown from the vessel and vanished into floodwaters, has told the court he lied in his police statement.
Darren James Homan, the alleged driver of the 4.2m Renegade boat, which collided with a pylon in a flooded Groper Creek, is charged with dangerously operate or interfere with the operation of a vehicle causing death or grievous bodily harm. He was also charged with general obligation on persons involved with operation of ship to operate it safely causing death.
The final two of eight witnesses were cross-examined in Ayr Magistrates Court on Wednesday, with more than 20 additional witness statements previously submitted.
Thomas Arthur, 25, told the court that he had consumed a litre of rum over the course of February 8 last year and could not recall what he was doing on that day.
During cross-examination by defence barrister Harvey Walters, Mr Arthur said he had no mutual friends and had never socialised with Mr
Homan before. When asked if his statement “I’ve seen him drunk before” was true, Mr Arthur said, “No.”
Mr Walters also stated that any judgment on Mr Homan’s appearance that day by Mr Arthur would not be accurate because of his level of intoxication.
“So when you say you observed him at Groper Creek, you were intoxicated, having drank a lot of rum … you really weren’t in a position yourself to make judgments about somebody else’s consuming (alcohol),” Mr Walters said.
Mr Arthur replied: “Probably not.” However, under cross-examination, witness Robert Rea told the court that he had not seen Mr Arthur consume alcohol when he was with him.
Mr Rea said he had gone to Groper Creek that day “just to have a look”, as he had “never seen water like that there before”.
Mr Homan will stand trial at Townsville District Court at a later date for the dangerous operate charge and will face Ayr Magistrates Court on February 9 for the other charge. He was granted bail for both charges.