Two women accused of fatally hitting a police officer with a car have been sentenced to stand trial for murder, with a magistrate’s hearing claiming one of them said: “We traveled together and we died together.”
Skye Anne Wallis and Kari O’Brien faced Brisbane Magistrates Court on Thursday for a committal hearing after being charged with the murder of police constable David Masters.
The 53-year-old officer died after being hit by a suspected stolen car while deploying a tire deflation device on the Bruce Highway in Burpengary, north of Brisbane, about 3am on June 26, 2021.
Skye Anne Wallis (left) and Kari O’Brien (right) faced Brisbane Magistrates Court on Thursday.
Magistrate Peter Saggers on Thursday ordered both Wallis and O’Brien to stand trial in the Supreme Court in Brisbane on one count each of murder, arson and unlawful use of a motor vehicle.
—Do you want to respond to these charges or plead guilty? Mr. Saggers asked Wallis.
“No, your honor,” Wallis said.
Senator Const Masters’ family members sitting in court gasped as O’Brien was also sentenced to stand trial after almost two hours of legal arguments.
The Crown alleges the vehicle used to kill Sen Const Masters was driven by Wallis, 36, while O’Brien was a passenger.
Police officer David Masters died after being hit by a suspected stolen car.
The Crown has alleged that Wallis is responsible for the death when he drove the car dangerously toward or toward the officer or by acting with reckless indifference to human life.
Prosecutor Dejana Kovac said a jury could find O’Brien guilty of felony murder because he assisted or encouraged Wallis to drive in a manner that was allegedly dangerous and likely to endanger life and for the unlawful purpose of evading police.
Kovac said O’Brien had allegedly told Wallis not to stop when they were discovered by police and had allegedly taken part in setting fire to the car involved in the fatal incident and then changing clothes.
“Something important that Ms. O’Brien says when she tells Ms. Wallis that they are in this together: ‘You know we travel together and we die together,'” Ms. Kovac said.
O’Brien declined to make a statement in court in response to the charges or enter a guilty plea.
Wallis was remanded in custody and his case will next be heard in December.
O’Brien’s lawyer, Christopher Wilson, said his 27-year-old client had no case to answer, arguing there was insufficient evidence to put her on trial for murder.
“There is no evidence to implicate her in any other way except that she was in a car,” Mr Wilson said.
Wilson said O’Brien had used the word “we” in a colloquial sense in the sense that he was supposedly in the car when it collided with Sen Const Masters, but had not encouraged Wallis.
Saggers committed Wallis and O’Brien to stand trial after hearing witness testimony in a closed court.
The witness was granted special status after the magistrate accepted a police report about threats made against the witness.
The accused will be tried at a later date to be notified by the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Wallis was remanded in custody and his case will be heard in December along with a separate weapons charge.
O’Brien’s bail was continued and she declined to comment as she left court after the hearing.