By Jeremy Sollars
The Warwick District Court has heard that a truck driver charged with the hit and run death of a cyclist west of Warwick in 2014 replaced spotlights on the front of his rig in the days following the fatal collision.
Geoffrey Joseph Sleba, 45, is on trial over the death of former Tamworth veterinarian Dr Martin Pearson in a collision on the Inglewood-Millmerran Road on Anzac Day in 2014.
The Crown alleges Sleba’s truck fatally struck Dr Pearson around 3.15pm on the day – while Dr Pearson heading north taking part in a long-distance cycling event – and that Sleba failed to stop at the scene.
Sleba has pleaded not guilty.
His trial began today, Tuesday 30 January, in the Warwick District Court before Judge Leanne Clare and a jury made up of seven women and five men.
The Crown will present evidence that dye found on one of Dr Pearson’s cycling shoes matched that taken from the mudguard of Sleba’s truck, and that Sleba swapped spotlights on the front of his rig sometime after Dr Pearson’s death.
Sleba’s defence counsel today told the court the Crown case was “circumstantial” in that there was no absolute proof that Dr Pearson had not been struck by a vehicle other than the one driven by his client.
His counsel also said it was possible that Sleba had been fatigued as a result of then-undiagnosed sleep apnoea and due to that condition, noise and vibration from the truck and shadows on the road may not have been aware he had struck Dr Pearson, even if that were the case.
But the defence does accept Dr Pearson died as the result of colliding with a vehicle.
The Crown will also present evidence that other motorists on the road around the time of the fatal collision observed a truck driver pulled over in a layby checking the front of his truck, after the time of the collision and north of the scene.
The court today heard evidence from Dr Pearson’s widow, Sandy Vigar, who was a support person to the five cyclists in the event, including Dr Pearson.
The court heard she had unknowingly driven past the scene of her husband’s fatal collision on her way to the riders’ next stop of Millmerran, later receiving a phone call asking if she had seen him and turning around to go back to the location.
The trial originally commenced in October 2016 but was put on hold as a result of legal argument on the first day.
The District Court visits Warwick on a ‘circuit’ three or four times a year.
Sleba’s trial is set down for the next two weeks.
Updates to follow at www.freetimes.com.au
