A truck driver who had been on a drug bender for days before causing a fatal crash which killed four police officers had been warned by his own truck to slow down.
Mohinder Singh, 48, thought he was being chased by a witch in the moments leading up to the horrific crash on Melbourne’s Eastern Freeway on April 22.
He had only slept for five hours over the past three days when he ran his truck into Leading Senior Constable Lynnette Taylor, Senior Constable Kevin King and constables Glen Humphris and Josh Prestney.
The four had been impounding a Porsche driven by mortgage broker driver Richard Pusey when they were struck and killed by Singh’s semi-trailer.
In chains: Mohinder Singh Bajwa arrives at the Supreme Court of Victoria in Melbourne on Thursday
Left to right: Constable Glen Humphris, Senior Constable Kevin King, Leading Senior Constable Lynette Taylor and Constable Joshua Prestney all died in the crash
Mohinder Singh Bajwa arrives at the Supreme Court of Victoria in Melbourne on Thursday under heavy guard
Parents of Josh Prestney, Andrew and Belinda, arrive at the Supreme Court of Victoria in Melbourne on Thursday
Singh was brought to the Supreme Court of Victoria in chains on Thursday and under heavy police guard.
The court heard Singh had been told to get some rest before he got behind the wheel that day.
For two whole seconds before he ran the police officers down, Singh’s truck itself pleaded with him to stop.
At just on 22 seconds past 5.36pm that day, Singh’s truck swerved into the emergency lane where the vehicle’s front mounted radar sensor detected the stationary police vehicles in front of the truck.
The truck triggered a ‘Forward Collision Warning Event’, which projected a red flashing light onto the inside of the windscreen.
Crown prosecutor Brendan Kissane, QC told the court, which was packed with the families of the dead officers, the signal changed to a flashing light and an acoustic signal sounded.
‘Over the next two seconds, the truck travelled a further 50 metres at a speed of 87 kmh,’ he said.
Two seconds later the truck hit.
Crash experts later found Singh never hit the brakes and the only reason the truck stopped at all was because the vehicle itself had done so.
Singh had spent the previous few days on a bender smoking ice and cannabis and downing bottles of booze.
His own junkie clients had repeatedly told him to get some sleep.
‘He was off it. He was talking nonsense. He was saying the witches are coming and we have to leave,’ one customer later told police.
‘I had never seen anyone as drug f**ked in my life. He hadn’t slept for eight days.’
The partner of Constable Glen Humphris, Todd Robinson (centre in light blue suit), arrives at the Supreme Court of Victoria in Melbourne on Thursday
Mohinder Singh Bajwa arrives at the Supreme Court of Victoria in Melbourne on Thursday before his pre-sentence hearing
Mohinder Singh Bajwa’s truck careered off the highway and into the car of Richard Pusey, who had been pulled over by the officers for speeding
Motorists who observed Singh on the freeway that day described Singh’s truck as being out of control and veering repeatedly into the emergency lane.
‘This dude’s going to f**king kill someone,’ a witness told his mum.
The court heard Singh was so trashed he had delusions he was being followed by a witch who had chased him through paddocks and sat in his passenger seat.
‘He said she wouldn’t leave the car no matter how much he begged,’ a drug-using friend of Singh’s told police.
Other witnesses said Singh was so tired he couldn’t speak in the days leading up to the accident.
The truck driver on Thursday admitted to selling ice and cannabis to a number of associates.
The funeral procession lines up during the funeral of Constable Josh Prestney on May 4 last year.
Floral tributes before the funeral of Leading Senior Constable Lynette Taylor at the Victoria Police Academy in Melbourne last April
Mohinder Singh thought he was being chased by a witch in the moments leading up the the horrific crash on Melbourne’s Eastern Freeway on April 22
Pusey himself pleaded guilty on Wednesday to several charges after filming the crash site and taunting a senior constable as she lay dying.
Pusey avoided being struck in the crash as he had been urinating off to the side of the road.
Pictured: Truck driver Mohinder Singh
He fled the scene and was arrested a day after the crash on April 23.
The deaths of Leading Senior Constable Lynnette Taylor, Senior Constable Kevin King and constables Glen Humphris and Josh Prestney was the biggest loss of officer lives in a single incident in Victoria Police’s history.
Singh is in the process of listening to the shattered family and friends of those officers he killed.
One after the other devastated loved ones are facing off with Singh to recount stories about those they have lost.
The process is expected to take up much of the day before the hearing is adjourned until tomorrow where Singh’s barrister will attempt to explain his client’s actions.
Singh is expected to spend more than a decade behind bars when he is eventually sentenced by Justice Paul Coghlan.
Richard Pusey, the driver of a Porsche who allegedly fled the scene of the truck crash, is taken away from his Fitzroy property by police on April 23