Death driver was banned

A TRANMERE woman told police she just saw something “big and brown” hit her windscreen when she fatally struck a pedestrian near Mornington more than three years ago.

Father-of-two Trinton Harmon, 43, died when airport rental car worker Simone Bridges hit him with her Mitsubishi Pajero on the South Arm Highway in July 2016.

Ms Bridges, who didn’t stop, maintains she thought she hit a kangaroo or animal of some kind.

In the Coroner’s Court before Coroner Olivia McTaggart yesterday, the inquest into Mr Harmon’s death heard Ms Bridges’ driver’s licence was suspended at the time of the incident due to unpaid fines.

Ms Bridges’ police interview given a few hours after the incident was played to the court.

She told police she had driven along that section of highway “a million times” and had never seen a pedestrian walking along there

“It was dark and the next thing I know there’s a big, brown thing that’s hit my car and [I thought] if I pull over someone might come up behind me and clean me up. It happened in a split second. I kept going and just thought ‘shit, my car, what am I going to do’,” she said.

She told police there was nothing to suggest to her she had hit a person rather than an animal.

Ms Bridges told police when she got home 10 minutes later she saw one of her headlights had been smashed and there was damage to her windscreen.

“I was shaking, I was in shock – I couldn’t even make a cup of tea. All I could think was we didn’t have the money to fix the car,” she said.

Earlier yesterday, Tracy Hoskinson, an aged care worker who found Mr Harmon’s body on the side of the highway, said visibility had been clear that night and as she got close to the body she realised it was a person.

“The way he was laying, it was distinctly a human body,” she said. “I made the decision with the amount of blood not to start CPR. I looked for signs of life – chest movements, steam from his breath – but there weren’t any.”

Ms Hoskinson also said it was not very common to see people walking along that stretch of road, but it was common for wallabies and kangaroos to “jump out”.

The inquest continues today with Ms Bridges and Mr Harmon’s family members to give evidence.