Victoria’s highest court has overturned a rare decision to permanently hold charges against a trucking boss after his meth-affected driver killed four police officers.
Simiona Tuteru faced the Victorian Court of Appeal on Thursday after prosecutors launched an appeal against the decision by a Supreme Court Justice to place the case on hold.
Mr Tuteru was initially charged with manslaughter and heavy vehicle law breaches in August 2020 after a driver at his company, Mohinder Singh, killed four police officers at a roadside stop on the Eastern Freeway in April the same year.
In October last year, prosecutors dropped four charges of manslaughter, indicating they wanted to proceed on an alternative charge of failing to comply with a duty under the Heavy Vehicle National Law.
The case alleged Mr Tuteru was aware Singh was fatigued or unfit to drive at the time.
The prosecution’s case against the Connect Logistics supervisor was permanently stayed in March this year by Justice Lex Lasry, who found prosecutors had misused the court process to “oppress” the accused man.
“In my opinion, the court’s processes have been, at a minimum, used oppressively and unfairly by the Director of Public Prosecutions at various stages of this case,” he said.
“Allowing the prosecution to continue would bring the administration of justice into disrepute and nothing short of a permanent stay could remedy the situation.”
Justice Lasry further took aim at Victoria’s Director of Public Prosecutions, saying the decision to not say why the manslaughter charges were dropped showed a “lack of respect” for the court.
Prosecutors, led by Ben Ihle KC, had argued Justice Lasry’s decision to stay the case was flawed and based on a problematic attempt to “peek behind the curtain” of prosecutorial discretion.
Mr Tuteru’s barrister, David Hallowes SC, had argued that Justice Lasry was entitled to make the findings he did, and having manslaughter charges hanging over his client’s head was rightfully characterised as oppressive.
But he agreed there was no “malice” in how prosecutors had treated his client.
Handing down their judgment, Justices David Beach, Kristen Walker and Lesley Taylor found the prosecution’s conduct might have been suboptimal and inefficient, but it was far from oppressive.
They set aside the permanent stay, noting the law says it may only be granted in an “extreme” or “exceptional” case.
“The refinement and reconsideration of a criminal case is both commonplace and sound. Neither the past conduct of the prosecution nor the legal landscape of the indictment rendered this an extreme or exceptional case,” they said.
Singh, who was severely sleep-deprived and drug affected on the day, was jailed in April 2021 after pleading guilty to four counts of culpable driving causing death.
The four officers were killed when Singh fell asleep at the wheel and collided with two police cars and a Porsche at Kew on April 22, 2020.
Leading Senior Constable Lynette Taylor and First Constable Glen Humphris had pulled over Richard Pusey for driving his Porsche at 149km/h.
Two other officers, Senior Constable Kevin King and Constable Josh Prestney, arrived a short time later and were standing in an emergency lane when Singh’s truck crashed into all four officers.
The crash was the single greatest loss of life in Victoria Police’s history, while Pusey survived because he was urinating on the side of the road and avoided being hit.
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