The husband of an innocent mother-of-three killed during a police chase feels “flat and frustrated” that prosecutors have dropped charges against a man who allegedly drove the stolen car under pursuit.
The comments come after it was revealed on Wednesday that state prosecutors had discontinued charges against James Stuart Edmonds relating to the controversial police pursuit in which Dianella woman Sharon D’ercole died on April 12, 2012.
Mrs D’Ercole and her daughter Lashay, 16, had been travelling south through a green light on Alexander Drive, near Morley Drive, when police chasing an allegedly stolen grey Audi sedan ran a red light and slammed into her Toyota Corolla in Dianella. Lashay was seriously injured.
Lawyer Terry Dobson, who acts for Mrs D’Ercole’s husband Ron, said the family had been floored by the Director of Public Prosecutions’ decision, which effectively meant that no one would be held accountable over the crash and her subsequent death.
Mr Dobson spoke to Mr D’Ercole on Monday night and said the widower was upset, down and frustrated at the latest development.
“He’s feeling flat and frustrated by the way the system has handled everything,” Mr Dobson said.
“This effectively means that no one has been held legally responsible for Sharon D’Ercole’s death.”
Edmonds had been due to face a District Court trial this week on charges of stealing a motor vehicle and driving recklessly and with intent to harm, doing an act causing bodily harm or endangering life, health or safety.
But state prosecutors confirmed that the charges had been discontinued in May because a principal witness was not in a position to give evidence because of ill health and was unlikely to be able to testify in the “foreseeable future”.
She said the DPP had decided not to proceed with a trial on lesser charges.
“By discontinuing the charges against Mr Edmonds at present, the state's position is protected in the unlikely event that the witness returns to good health and the prosecution can be reinstituted,” the DPP statement said.
It comes just months after First Class Constable Gareth Hopley, who had been driving the police Ford Territory vehicle at the time, was acquitted by a jury in November last year after being charged with dangerous driving causing death.
During the trial, Mr Hopley denied having "tunnel vision" while chasing a stolen car before crashing into Mrs D'Ercole's vehicle, and testified that he believed she was slowing down for him when he hit her. The police vehicle’s lights and sirens were activated at the time, the court heard.
Some evidence also indicated Ms D'Ercole was driving at about 25km/h in a 60km/h zone, while the police vehicle was travelling at up to 75km/h.
At the time, Mr D’Ercole said he was disappointed with the jury’s verdict.
Mr Dobson said the family was further frustrated by details that could not be aired in court during Mr Hopley's trial.
“The jury could not be told during the trial that the police driver (Gareth Hopley) gave one version of his observations immediately before the impact to internal affairs and that version changed significantly when he gave evidence at the trial," he said.
“He could not be cross-examined about the prior inconsistencies to internal investigators because they ordered him to talk to them so it wasn’t a voluntary version of events.”
Mr Hopley quit the WA Police force before an internal investigation into the D’Ercole crash was completed.
It was not the first time Mr Hopley was involved in a fatal police pursuit.
He was a passenger in a 2008 chase involving unlicensed motorcyclist Matthew Miller, who sped away from police, crashed and died from his injuries. Mr Hopley was not charged over that incident.
