The daughters of a motorcyclist killed in Canberra’s north tried to reach him for their nightly phone call as he lay dying on the road, an ACT Supreme Court has heard.
Almost two years later, one of the girls still says goodnight to her father each night, beside a shrine she keeps in her bedroom.
“No 10-year-old should ever have a shrine in her room,” the girls’ mother told the court.
Sean Joshua Walton, 43, was found guilty last month of negligent driving causing the death of 47-year-old Craig O’Neill on June 18, 2023.
Walton, a father of four, was driving his Isuzu tipper truck when he turned right at the intersection of Southern Cross Drive and Beaurepaire Crescent in Holt and collided with Mr O’Neill’s black Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
Mr O’Neill died from his injuries soon after the crash.
Court hears of last phone call
During a sentencing hearing on Friday, Crown prosecutor Morgan Howe read victim impact statements from Mr O’Neill’s family, who described the continuing impact his death had had on their lives.
Mr O’Neill’s eldest daughter described her father as “a big bear of a man” who would have turned 50 this year, but would instead “stay 47”.
The fatal crash occurred at the intersection of Southern Cross Drive and Beaurepaire Crescent in Holt. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)
She told the court she and her sister had spoken to him on the phone the night before he died, as they regularly did.
“If I had known that was the last time I would hear his voice, I would have made that phone call last for hours,”
she said.
The teenager said she had lost the chance to share milestones with her father, including learning to drive, graduations, career advice, and father-daughter dances.
“I’ve lost doing all that with my dad, but the defendant can be there for his daughters,” she said.
“I hope he treasures the ability to do that with his daughters.
“I don’t want this man to lose his ability to be there with his loved ones.
“I hope that he lives the life that my dad can no longer.”
The ACT Supreme Court heard from the victim’s family as Walton faces sentencing. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)
In a statement read to the court, the girls’ mother said their lives would “never be the same”.
“A member of our family is missing, taken from us because someone was too impatient,”
she said.
“It was a split-second decision with a catastrophic outcome.
“His actions that day took a huge vibrant smile from the world that can never be returned.”
A ‘tragic mistake’
Defence barrister Kieran Ginges described the crash as a “tragic mistake with devastating consequences”.
“My client has and will live with this forever. It’s had a profound impact on him and his family,” he said.
“My client and family have been living through their own grief because of what my client caused.“
However, the prosecution argued Walton’s failure to keep a proper lookout while driving a heavy vehicle amounted to a significant failing.
It remains in dispute whether Mr O’Neill’s motorcycle was travelling behind or ahead of a red car that turned through the intersection shortly before the crash.
Justice Peter Berman is expected to sentence Walton next week.
