By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A trucking supervisor was warned hours before one of his drivers fatally ploughed into four police officers that the driver was not fit to drive, a court has heard.
Simiona Tuteru, 49, of the Lyndhurst-based Connect Logistics is facing a committal hearing for the police officers’ manslaughter.
Connect employee Stephen Harrison allegedly texted Mr Tuteru about 1.40pm on 22 April 2020 with concerns over the driver Mohinder Bajwa Singh’s “mental state”, according to phone records tendered to Melbourne Magistrates’ Court.
“He told me he was not in a good spot.
“He was putting trucks on wrong docks and had a sleep on the way back from Thomastown and slept in.
“I don’t think he should be driving. I told him to go to doctors straight away.”
Mr Harrison texted that he’d leave it to Mr Tuteru to contact the truckie “if he hasn’t rang already”.
Mr Tuteru texted back: “Will speak to him.”
Four hours later, Singh drove into two police vehicles and Richard Pusey’s Porsche parked in the Eastern Freeway emergency lane in Kew.
He fatally struck down Victoria Police officers Leading Senior Constable Lynette Taylor, Constable Glen Humphris, Senior Constable Kevin King and Constable Joshua Prestney.
The Supreme Court had previously found Singh was sleep-deprived and impaired by meth use at the time.
Singh, of Cranbourne, was jailed for up to 22 years for culpable driving causing the officers’ deaths as well as trafficking meth, cannabis and 1,4-butanediol.
Mr Harrison told Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on 18 May that Singh’s parking in the wrong docks was “one of those mistakes” and “wasn’t out of the ordinary”.
In a police statement, Mr Harrison said he spoke to a “confused” looking Singh who he believed had domestic “personal issues” after a shift earlier that morning.
He didn’t suspect Singh had drug issues.
“What had happened through the night, there was no alarm bells for me.”
He told police that he advised Singh to “go straight home and to call a doctor” as well as to call Mr Tuteru.
“Because of the conversation that morning I thought that maybe it would be better if he had a couple of days off and caught up on his sleep,” he said in the police statement.
