Widow of Aussie crash victim to receive damages

THE Road Accident Fund has admitted full liability for damages following an accident that claimed the lives of Australian football player Robert Dickson and his two young sons four years ago.

Dickson, 45, also a documentary filmmaker and winner of the Australian version of the reality show Survivor, was on holiday in South Africa and travelling to Sun City at the time of the accident.

He and his son Byron, 5, died on Good Friday in 2009. His other son, Gabriel, 8, died in hospital four days later.

This week, attorney Jean Paul Rudd of the law firm Adams & Adams, who represents Dickson’s widow, Susan Cuttell, said they could now start calculating the damages. Cuttell survived the accident.

‘‘We still have to estimate the damages, which will be based on Dickson’s earnings. We estimate this could be millions,” Rudd said.

The family, along with Cuttell’s young nephew, were travelling to Sun City when a car collided with them. The driver of the second vehicle was found to have been negligent.

Rudd said although Cuttell had since remarried, the damages due to her would factor in her new husband’s earnings.

Previously, the courts held that a widow’s loss of support was terminated at the point of remarriage, Rudd said.