Tragic loss: Sunshine Coast couple’s wedding plans shattered after fatal worksite accident

Lucy Milward and Zachary Wilson’s relationship was flourishing.

Lucy had been planning her and Wilson’s wedding for May next year. Now, she’s planning his funeral.

“From the day they met, he knew he couldn’t let her go. She was the one for him,” Lucy mother, Jody Milward, told 7NEWS.com.au.

“They were just soul mates.

“They complemented each other so well.”

The young couple was living in a granny flat at Jody’s Sunshine Coast home, “saving and saving” because “he wanted to get their house”, Milward said.

“He treated her like a princess,” she said.

“He wanted to look after her.

“He treated her so well. He just loved her.”

Wilson, 27, was hedging trees in his job was a contracted landscaper with Sunshine Coast Council on a footpath on Brisbane Rd in Mooloolaba about 11.35am last Friday.

He suffered catastrophic injuries when he was struck by a parked car that had been pushed into him when it was crashed into by a ute towing a caravan.

The ute also hit four other cars.

According to Jody Milward, Wilson was immediately brain-dead but “his heart kept going”.

He was taken to Sunshine Coast University Hospital, then to Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, but lost his fight for life.

“We’re so thankful to Zachary for that, because otherwise we wouldn’t have got those — as traumatic as they were — days in the ICU,” Milward said.

“Lucy could spend time with him rather than him just being declared dead at the scene.

“His heart just kept beating, because he didn’t want to go.

“It wasn’t his time.

“He wanted to be here with Lucy.”

The identity of the ute driver has not been made public, nor has it been provided to the grieving families.

‘Senseless’ tragedy

“We have no idea about the driver,” Milward said.

What the families do know is that Wilson is gone.

“It’s completely indescribable pain,” Milward said.

“We’ve absolutely been robbed. It’s just so senseless. We can’t fathom this.

“He just went off to work for the day, just like he did every other day.

“It’s just so senseless that now he is gone.

“Our daughter was planning a wedding. They had so many plans for the future and now, she’s alone.

“He was her soul mate and she was his. That kind of thing doesn’t come around that often.”

The families want a full police investigation into the crash.

Police have appealed for witnesses to come forward and say the investigation continues.

“Council’s thoughts are with the loved ones, friends and co-workers of the valued staff member of a company contracted to Sunshine Coast Council to care for our community’s parks and gardens,” said a spokesperson for Sunshine Coast Council.