A honeymooning husband has been found not guilty of reckless driving after his young wife, Marina, was killed when their golf cart overturned on Hamilton Island.
Robbie Awad, 32, sat stoically with his hands clasped in his lap on Friday afternoon as Proserpine Magistrate Karrie O’Callaghan ruled that his fatal U-turn on June 20, 2022 was not beyond what a reasonable driver would do in the circumstances.
Mr Awad’s mother, brother and friends breathed a sigh of relief when the verdict came through.
Mr Awad had admitted to Queensland Police that neither he nor his wife were wearing seat belts at the time of the crash.
He also confessed that he had been using his mobile phone during the journey, although it was safely in his pocket at the time of the fatal accident.
Mr Awad was worried that his buggy was running out of battery as it slowed down while driving with them uphill.
He attempted to turn the vehicle around and take it back to the Qualia resort, but the buggy crashed, overturning and killing his girlfriend, Marina Hanna.
At the heart of the case against Mr. Awad was a dispute over whether Mr. Awad could have reasonably turned his golf cart (the standard mode of transportation on the resort island) in a safer manner.
Prosecutors argued that he could, while the defense argued that he could not.
Robbie Awad nervously played with a rosary around his neck in court on Friday. Above, as he arrived with attorney Bryan Wrench
Judge O’Callaghan ultimately accepted the testimony of a defence forensic expert witness that the probable cause of the accident was the downward-sloping topography of the crash site, the severity of the crash and the poor performance of the golf cart.
He found that the fact that neither the husband nor the wife wore seat belts would have had a minimal effect on the outcome.
Both the prosecution and defense had called forensic experts with conflicting opinions on what led to the fatal incident (as shown in the graphic above).
Prosecution witness Senior Constable Gemma Williamson told the court on Thursday that several factors caused the crash.
Among them were the terrain and the fact that neither of the newlyweds were wearing seat belts at the time.
But on Friday morning, the defence called another forensic expert, former NRMA chief traffic engineer Grant Johnson.
Mr Johnson told the court the honeymoon couple’s decision not to wear seat belts would have made only a “marginal difference” to the fatal outcome of the crash.
Mr Johnson visited Hamilton Island in March 2023 and used an app to create a 3D model of the crash site to assess the terrain in the area, before using virtual software to recreate the golf cart accident.
Mr Johnson told the court he did not criticise Awad’s decision to make an illegal U-turn, given the driver’s testimony that he was struggling with battery problems at the time and experienced unexpected acceleration.
He said the lack of seat belts would have made only a “negligible difference” to the stroller not tipping over.
Awad is pictured with his wife Marina on their wedding day. Weeks later, she died during their honeymoon on Hamilton Island.
Guests at Hamilton Island often use golf carts to get around the island.
“When wearing the seat belt, forward motion will be stopped, but lateral movement, even with sudden (accelerator) increases, will occur with or without the seat belt due to the lack of lateral restraint,” he said.
He did not believe, based on Awad’s version of the circumstances, that he was acting “recklessly.”
“What he did up to the point where the climb occurred was behave reasonably, he would have made the turn without incident,” Johnson said.
“But then, according to his testimony, he became a passenger on a turbocharged plane.”
Police prosecutor Sergeant Linden Pollard told Mr Johnson that making the correct U-turn would have required Awad to slow down.
The slope of the hill would have been slightly less, making it a safer option.
Mr Johnson said that was “potentially” the case, but noted that Mr Awad said he doubted it. “I can’t rule out that option existing.”
Magistrate O’Callaghan fined Mr Awad $3,483 because both passengers in the buggy were not wearing seat belts and were using a mobile phone while driving.
Mr Awad declined to comment outside court.
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