After the collision that k!:lled the 27-year-old man, the driver didn’t stop… and what he did over the next three hours changed the entire case
A Chilean family have shared their anguish following a tragic car accident that killed their 27-year-old son in Australia.
Juan Ignacio Tolosa-Correa had lived in Australia for eight months and was working as a DoorDash food delivery driver when he was killed in a crash involving New Zealand national Dylan Wilson.
Chilean rideshare worker Juan Ignacio, 27, was killed in a hit-run in Port Melbourne in August last year. Picture: 9News
Wilson, 34, was seen sobbing in court as Chief Judge Amanda Chambers sentenced him to four months in prison and a two-year community corrections order for failing to stop and help after the crash.
Outside of court, Mr Tolosa-Correa’s mother said she was glad Wilson was going to jail.
“But we don’t hate him, this was an accident but all the things you do must have consequences,” she said.
The family of food delivery driver Juan Ignacio stands outside the County Court after the sentencing of Dylan Wilson. Picture: NewsWire / Luis Enrique Ascui
“I hope that everything for us now will be in peace and our family can finally rest.”
She said Juan Ignacio was “full of life” and a lovely son and brother who had a lot of friends.
His father said their family had been through a lot over the past two years.
“It’s been two years of a lot of pain. We just want to go home, learn to live with our sadness because this is a process that’s not going to go away ever,” he said.
On August 20, 2024, Wilson, who worked at Audi in West Melbourne at the time, drove a customer’s Audi through Plummer St in Port Melbourne when Mr Tolosa-Correra approached the middle lane on his electric bike and turned right into incoming traffic.
Chilean rideshare worker Juan Ignacio, 27, was killed in August 2024. Picture: 7news
Wilson, despite braking heavily, hit Mr Tolosa-Correra, who collided with the bonnet of the car and rolled over the top of the vehicle before landing almost 22m away.
Described by his colleague Declyn Tryorn, who was in the car at the time, as “freaking out”, Wilson fled the scene without helping Mr Tolosa-Correra or calling emergency services.
Back at his apartment, a friend would later tell police, Wilson was repeatedly saying; “I should have stopped, I don’t know why I didn’t stop”.
He called his parents who came over, with his mum calling police about an hour after the crash to say Wilson “got scared and ran away”.
Juan Ignacio’s father said “It’s been two years of a lot of pain” for the family. Picture: 9News
Almost three hours after the crash, police recorded a blood alcohol concentration of 0.058.
Wilson pleaded guilty to charges of failing to stop after an accident, failing to render assistance and exceeding the blood alcohol limit within three hours of driving after prosecutors dropped a separate charge of dangerous driving causing death.
Justice Chambers told the court it was not a part of the prosecution’s case that Wilson’s driving caused Mr Tolosa-Correa’s death.
“The legal obligation to stop and render assistance after an accident is the legal obligation of all drivers,” she said.
“Fleeing the scene… has been aptly described by the Court of Appeal as inhumane conduct.”
Justice Chambers said Wilson’s decision to flee the scene was “particularly egregious” and that he would have been able to recognise how serious the circumstances of the collision was when he decided to drive off.
However, she found Wilson’s poor mental health, following a cancer diagnosis at 18, impacted his ability to think rationally.
Given his early guilty plea, significant remorse and mental anguish following the event she said his moral culpability should be viewed as reduced but not eliminated.
Wilson, who is not an Australian citizen but was born in New Zealand now faces the possibility of being deported.
Wilson also had his license cancelled for four years.
“You must have known the consequences of the collision… (were) likely to be dire,” she said.
“The way in which you treated Mr Tolosa-Correa was very wrong and you will have to live with that for a long time.”
SOURCE: NEWS.COM.AU
https://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/courts-law/familys-anguish-after-son-killed-in-horror-ebike-crash/news-story/0ac981badccc32a6d9525fd8333328e1
