Part Two
Re: Crash into class room by a Toyota Kruger driven by Mrs Al Shennag
This is a good read if I do say so myself - I've combined bits and pieces from several articles to build up a more complete picture of the fatal incident - There'll be a Part Three soon dealing with the car park and hopefully present an educated guess of how this incident panned out
Bias_2012 wrote on Oct 18
th, 2021 at 8:13am:
I bent over and picked the bottle up while doing 10-20k/h, but I found I was peering out the windscreen to check where the car was going and actually steering the car keeping it on the road. I didn't have to look down at the floor in order to pick the bottle up
Bias_2012 wrote on Oct 18
th, 2021 at 8:13am:
So, was the lady in question looking through her windscreen while her Kruger was moving forward?
We don't know, but it seems she wasn't, otherwise she would have seen the classroom coming up and steered away from it
Actually Mrs Al Shennag claimed that she
was
looking where she was going ....
"But in her tearful evidence, she said she didn't take her eyes off the road and did not bend down."
Then she claimed she hit the brake, but
the water bottle got jammed under the brake pedal ....
"I thought the water bottle went under the brake; when I pressed the brake it didn't work," she said."
Then she claimed that she tried to steer the Kruger SUV away from the classroom ....
"While she tried to steer the car away from the classroom, it
"fly like an aeroplane"
She denied pressing the accelerator instead of the brake ....
"A woman who crashed her four-wheel drive into a Sydney primary school killing two boys has
denied pressing the accelerator instead of the brake
."
Then questioned by the Prosecutor ....
"Your foot remained on the accelerator when the car became airborne,"
"No way, no way, no way
," Al-Shennag replied."
https://www.bunburyherald.com.au/news/crime/driver-who-killed-two-boys-is-remors...So let's look at what happened ... Mrs Al Shennag drove through a gateway that had a sign "No Unauthorized Entry". The Kruger SUV she was driving somehow got up to an estimated speed of 74k/h in a small enclosed car park. Mrs Al Shennag's school age son was still in the vehicle with her, going at that estimated speed. She was there to drop off her son, and was running a bit late. Her son was in the vehicle when it crashed into the class room
Mrs Al Shennag said she hit the brakes but a water bottle which fell to the floor was supposedly behind the brake pedal preventing the brakes from being applied to slow the Kruger down or stopping it. All the time she was watching where she was going she said, but the Kruger hit a concrete lawn edging and the vehicle became airborne, kept going and inserted itself fully into the demountable classroom building, killing two pupils and injuring several others
Obviously what's missing here is how the Kruger got up to the estimated 74k/h. No one has said, and it's likely the forensic investigation was done by a private contractor who would hand over their findings to the Police who in turn might or might not publish them. I can't find them on the net
The Kruger was checked for mechanical problems but none were found apparently, because nothing has been mentioned publicly. A serious defect would have been brought up in court presumably, and presented as evidence clearing Mrs Al Shennag of blame. But I've found nothing like that at all in news reports
Something worth mentioning is that before the court case, an agreement was reached between all concerned, including Mrs Al Shennag, outlining certain actions that she did, as agreed upon facts ....
"The parties have prepared agreed facts, which say Al-Shennag bent down to pick up a water bottle which fell into the footwell before pressing the accelerator instead of the brake."
Well, she broke that agreement and told a different story in court ... didn't bend down ... didn't press the accelerator - Changed her story in court to be the opposite of the agreement .... but she pleaded guilty anyway
To be continued .... Part Three will be interesting