Brakes blamed in death
FAULTY ABS brakes killed a Brisbane woman in Southport three years ago, not the driving of Anthony Descas.
The 26-year-old was yesterday acquitted of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death after his car veered into the opposite lane on Marine Pde and killed 32year-old Rebecca Liu in September, 2014.
Descas was driving home from work at the Parkwood Golf Club with a colleague about 11.20pm, when he lost control of his 2000 model Holden Commodore, which he bought only days earlier, the court was told during the trial.
Crown prosecutor Clayton Wallace argued Descas failed to steer his vehicle, keep it in the correct lane and applied the accelerator too strongly without keeping a look-out.
However, the jury agreed with defence barrister Angus Edwards who told the court the car, which cleared a safety check one day earlier, in fact had several problems including faulty headlights and defective ABS brakes.
Mr Edwards said the faulty ABS connection caused the brakes to lock up and caused the car to slide on to the other side of the road.
Outside Court, defence barrister Jason Jacobson said Descas was “very relieved” to have been acquitted.
“Of course there are no winners. It’s a tragedy because someone has lost their life,” he said. “The jury verdict goes to demonstrate that (the death) was caused by a mechanical defect of Mr Descas’ car and not his dangerous driving.
“The family of the deceased have suffered.”
During the trial, one witness said Descas told him warning lights flashed on the dashboard before the accident.
The court heard the vehicle should have failed the safety check. The mechanic who undertook the assessment, Robert Townsend, told the court he would have “parked” the vehicle if he had seen lights flashing on the dashboard.
Passenger and colleague Luke Boland said the car’s “high beams were flicking on and off intermittently” in the lead-up to the crash.
“I felt the car accelerate slightly but I don’t remember how long before,” he said.
“There is a gap in my memory ... but I remember Anthony put his arm across my chest and then we ended up mounting the median strip.”