The court case against a teenage driver accused of killing the son of South Australia’s top police officer in a hit-and-run incident has been delayed by six weeks.
South Australia’s police chief will have to wait to hear charges against his son’s alleged killer formally confirmed in court after the case suffered a delay.
Dhirren Randhawa appeared in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Tuesday accused of killing 18-year-old Charlie Stevens in a hit-and-run incident during the November school week.
Appearing in person before the Crown, Magistrate John Wells granted a six-week adjournment to Director of Public Prosecutions Martin Hinton KC for a charging hearing.
Dhirren Randhawa (second right) was flanked by supporters, including his mother Amreeta Stara (left)
Hinton said the delay was necessary so that the pathologist’s report and the accident reconstructionist’s report could be completed and given to the prosecution before it could proceed.
Dressed in chinos and a white linen shirt on a hot Adelaide morning, Randhawa was flanked by his supporters in court, including his mother Amreeta Stara, a hypnotherapist and “transformational coach”.
The Encounter Bay teenager is alleged to have recklessly struck Mr Stephens with his car after a late-night interaction on the road in Goolwa on November 17.
He is accused of fleeing the scene and subsequently failing to answer police questions, before eventually turning himself in.
He is accused of killing 18-year-old Charlie Stevens in a hit-and-run incident during school week in November.
Stephens died in hospital surrounded by friends and family, including his father, Police Commissioner Grant Stephens, the following night.
His was the 101st death on South Australia’s roads in 2023, a tragic statistic that his parents were at pains to draw attention to in a heartbreaking open letter titled “About 101”.
A well-known and popular figure as a result of his management of the state during the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr Stephens’ grief struck a chord with the South Australian public.
A crowd of more than 1,000 mourners paid their respects to the apprentice merchant at an emotional memorial service at the Adelaide Oval later that month.
Randhawa, 19, has not yet pleaded guilty to any of his four charges, including causing death by dangerous driving.
He remains free on bail with conditions including living at his mother’s house, surrendering his passport and not getting into the driver’s seat of a vehicle.
He is due back in court in April.
