Family gutted by crash charge

A HINCHINBROOK family struggling to deal with the aftermath of a horror quad bike accident that left a boy with severe head injuries say they have been dealt another cruel blow after the boy’s grandfather was formally charged.

Townsville Police Forensic Crash Unit investigators have charged the grandfather with allegedly dangerously operating or interfering with the operation of a vehicle causing death or grievous bodily harm on his farm on July 21, 2019.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, will have his matter mentioned in the Ingham Magistrates Court today.

The mother of the child said the decision to charge the brave battler’s grandfather with such a serious offence was shocking for the family.

“I think they (police) could have gone about it differently. The charge is a bit extreme, there are all sorts of other things that happen in Ingham involving quad bikes but those people walk away with just a big fine,” she said.

“We expected something but we didn’t expect this.”

She said she never blamed the grandfather for the accident and that he had already been racked with guilt.

“I said in the police statement that I didn’t blame him,” she said.

“He likes to put on a brave front so I don’t really know

HE LIKES TO PUT ON A BRAVE FRONT SO I DON’T REALLY KNOW HOW HE IS EXACTLY BUT I KNOW THAT IT IS REALLY AFFECTING HIM

MOTHER OF THE VICTIM

how he is exactly but I know that it is really affecting him.”

The boy’s mother said that since the charges were laid, the grandfather had been seeing his family more.

“It helps him cheer up quite a bit because they make him happy,” she said.

The boy, who was undergoing therapy for unrelated medical issues prior to the accident, suffered a traumatic brain injury when the quad bike allegedly crashed into a concrete water tank pole.

There were grave fears the boy would not survive the accident but he has fought back, working hard to overcome setbacks including mobility issues on the left side of his body and vision loss in his left eye.

The boy’s mother said her son “was getting stronger and making a lot of progress”.

“It’s just his left eye that’s not improving, he’s losing vision,” she said.

Asked how she was coping, she laughed: “That’s a whole other bundle. We take each day as it comes.”

The grandfather is not expected to appear in court in person and will be represented by his lawyer.