Teenager to be sentenced over death of three women in Maryborough crash

The devastated families of two women and a teenage girl, killed by a boy driving a stolen car, have recalled the “nightmare” of the last year without their loved ones during a court hearing.

Michale Chandler, 29, Kelsie Davies, 17, and Sheree Robertson, 52, were killed when they were hit by the stolen car driven by a 13-year-old boy on Saltwater Creek Rd in Maryborough on April 30 last year.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Teenager to be sentenced after killing three innocent people in stolen car.

A fourth girl, Kayla Behrens, 17, survived the crash, but was left with lasting injuries after spending 10 days in an induced coma.

The hearing to sentence the teenage offender, who cannot be named, was held at Hervey Bay Courthouse on Monday, with family members hearing emotional details of the crash for the first time.

The court heard that the 13-year-old, who pleaded guilty to four charges including one count of dangerous driving causing death and unlawfully using a car, had instigated stealing the car hours before the fatal crash.

His fellow offenders described how the boy had been “driving like an idiot” and “drifting”, and that they had felt like “crash test dummies” while in the car with him.

After an argument about the boy’s driving, the group spilt up and the boy took off on his own, reaching speeds of up to 200km/h.

“I was driving angrily,” the boy told the court.

“I smacked into the back of the car and their car spun.”

Robertson, a nurse on her way home from a night shift, was rammed by the stolen car and spun into oncoming traffic, hitting another car that was carrying Chandler, Davies and Behrens.

The trio had been on their way home from the movies when they were hit.

Robertson’s sister, Leisa Latimer, had earlier said that Robertson’s colleagues were some of the first on scene and held her as she died, but that the hearing was the first time she had heard some of the last words her sister had said after the crash.

“For her to call out and say ‘help me, help me, I’m stuck’, that was the first time we’ve heard that,” she said.

“That really hit home.

“He’s the one that caused the accident, he’s the one that took those three lovely girls and impacted one of the other girl’s lives,” Latimer said.

“There’s just no sentence that he can get that’s going to make any difference.”

Davies’ mother, Susan Marcus, spoke of the pain her daughter’s death had wrought.

“It’s a nightmare, It really is, it’s a nightmare, and there’s no joy — I can’t find joy anymore,” she said.

Behrens, the sole survivor of the crash, told the court she struggled with everyday life and had survivor’s guilt.

Forensic psychologist Dr Luke Hatzipetrou ranked the boy’s risk of re-offending as medium to high after 96 behavioural incidents during his 18 months in detention, including a fight with inmates due to his boasting about his crimes.

Defence barrister Ed Whitton said the now 14-year-old had tried to write apology letters, but “couldn’t find the words”.

The hearing will continue on December 5.