South Australia’s top police officer and his wife have spoken openly about the heartbreaking loss of their youngest son and the last thing they said to their child.
The pain of Police Commissioner Grant Stevens and his wife Emma is still brutally present seven months after the tragedy that shook their family.
Charlie Stevens, 18, was with friends waiting for a bus to go to Schoolies celebrations when he was hit by a car driven by Dhirren Randhawa in Goolwa, south of Adelaide, on November 17 last year.
Charlie was airlifted to Flinders Medical Centre but died the next day from a severe brain injury surrounded by his family.
Commissioner Stevens and his wife cried as they talked about seeing Charlie in the hospital after the crash and revealed his final words to her in a powerful interview broadcast on 60 Minutes Sunday night.
“Some things I won’t repeat because I was angry with him,” Mrs. Stevens recalled.
“I think I just said, ‘I love you. You’re my baby and you always will be.'”
Commissioner Stevens added: “It was good to spend time with him, but the hardest part was leaving for the last time.”
Charlie Stevens (pictured), the youngest son of South African Police Commissioner Grant Stevens, was killed in a horrific hit-and-run last November.
The couple acknowledged that not only their lives had been changed forever, but so had the life of the driver who killed their son.
They expressed remarkable compassion and forgiveness towards Rhandhawa, who was also 18 and on her P licence plate at the time.
“You know he’s going to have to live with this all his life,” Mrs. Stevens said.
“I think being a mother to an 18-year-old is not that smart. He’s 18 years old.
“And I look at him and think that could have been Charlie too.”
Rhandhawa was initially charged with causing death by dangerous driving, aggravated driving without due care, leaving the scene of an accident after death and failing to answer a question truthfully.
However, in a plea deal, he admitted to one count of aggravated driving without due care and leaving the scene of an accident.
He is due to appear in court next month to be sentenced.
Commissioner Grant Stevens (right) and his wife Emma (left) fought back tears as they remembered their son.
Rhandhawa’s guilty plea will spare the Stevenses the pain of a trial.
“We are grateful that Dhirren has pleaded guilty,” said Commissioner Stevens.
“It gives us an idea of the acceptance of their responsibility.”
Rhandhawa wrote a letter of apology to the Stevens for which they are very grateful.
“We appreciate it, we appreciate the fact that he gave us that apology,” Commissioner Stevens said.
We believe that this obviously gives us an idea of their acceptance, of their responsibility.
“But I think with what remains to be seen in the court process, we’ll just let it play out.”
His wife added: “And he wrote it, and those are the words of an 18-year-old,” Ms Stevens said.
“I don’t think they told him what to write. I think it’s just him.”
Ms. Stevens then joked: “Actually, I’m not so sure Charlie would be able to write anything as good as that.”
Charlie (pictured) was an organ donor and gave seven people a second chance at life.
Commissioner Stevens admitted he never thought his family would be the ones to hear the news that a loved one had been murdered.
“I always thought that delivering a death message was the hardest thing police officers have to do,” he told the programme.
“And as much as you identify with the families that you give that information to, you have no idea or appreciation for how tragic it is and how heartbreaking it is.
“You never think it’s going to happen to you.”
The couple also revealed that as an organ donor, Charlie had given seven people a second chance at life.
They recalled his memorable funeral, which was attended by nearly 2,000 mourners.
In lieu of flowers, the Stevens family asked mourners to make donations to Operation Flinders, an outback adventure therapy program that has been running for more than 30 years.
Since then, Operation Flinders has helped 10,000 at-risk adolescents.
In an overwhelming response, nearly $220,000 has been raised so far in Charlie’s name as his legacy continues.