A diabetic driver who killed five people when his car ploughed into a hotel beer garden in central Victoria will not stand trial. William Swale was charged with culpable driving causing death after he fatally struck a group of patrons in Daylesford last November.
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00:00Well, this was a pretty technical decision, so I'll try and break it down for you, but
00:06essentially the upshot is that William Swale walked free from court this afternoon.
00:11He will not be held criminally responsible for the deaths of five people who were struck
00:16by his SUV outside a pub in November last year.
00:20So this case really boils down to the diabetes condition that Mr Swale has and how it affected
00:26his behaviour on the afternoon of the crash.
00:30The crash happened at about six o'clock in the evening, and the prosecution in this case
00:34said the critical period was about half an hour beforehand, and what this case boiled
00:41down to is whether William Swale's decision to get into his car and drive was a voluntary
00:47decision.
00:48Now, for most of us, getting into the car and driving is a voluntary act, but in this
00:52case the defence said it wasn't, and that was because Mr Swale suffered a hypoglycemic
00:58attack.
01:01Essentially his blood glucose levels were incredibly low, and they said that his mental
01:06state was incredibly impaired, and as a result, when he got behind the wheel, when his car
01:13slowly snaked through the streets of Dallasford and then ploughed into these people outside
01:17the pub, they said he had no voluntary control of that action, despite what were the tragic
01:25outcomes that came from it, and a magistrate today ruled that the prosecution couldn't
01:30reasonably prove otherwise.
01:33And what's been the reaction?
01:35Look, Joe, mixed reaction for the families of the people who were killed.
01:42They were utterly in despair by this outcome.
01:45They just can't understand how five people can die and nobody be held responsible or
01:53accountable for that.
01:55They questioned what kind of a justice system we had in place, and I think it's going to
02:00take them a very long time to process what's happened.
02:04On the flip side, there was a lot of relief for William Swale and his family.
02:11Mr Swale himself didn't say anything as he left the courtroom, but his lawyer Martin
02:16Ahmad did, and I believe we've got a grab of what Mr Ahmad said outside court a short
02:21time ago.
02:22Whilst Mr Swale welcomes today's decision, he remains deeply distressed about the deaths
02:31and about the injuries that occurred on that day.
02:35He has asked me, again, to express his deepest sympathy to the family and friends of the
02:42deceased, to those injured, to their family and friends, and to the wider community, especially
02:51those in Daylesford.
02:54It would be inappropriate for us to say anything further, so we won't.
03:01So Joe, obviously a very significant outcome here in court, one that is going to take quite
03:06a while to dissect, but the key upshot from it all is that William Swale will walk free
03:14and not be held responsible for the deaths of the five people who were killed when his
03:18SUV crashed into them last November.