A 24-year-old woman and her teenage brother are dead after a three-car crash in south-western Sydney on Friday night.
The siblings were travelling in a silver Toyota Echo hatchback on Sadleir Avenue in Heckenberg near Liverpool when their car was involved in a head-on crash about 9.20pm with a black Mercedes, which police believe was travelling on the wrong side of the road.
The Mercedes then hit a third car, a Toyota RAV4, before flipping onto its side.
Witnesses took mobile phone footage as three men climbed out of the Mercedes and fled in a fourth vehicle, a Volkswagen Golf, leaving the woman and her brother critically injured in the wreck. The occupants of the RAV4 were not hurt.
Paramedics tried to save the brother and sister, but they died at the scene. The woman had picked up her brother from work shortly before the crash.
Speaking on Saturday, the siblings’ mother sobbed as she said her children were “beautiful” and had wanted to help people.
“Now my son is gone and my daughter, she’s gone,” she said.
CCTV from a nearby home showed the Mercedes speeding along a quiet suburban street before a loud crash could be heard.
A 20-year-old man was arrested at Liverpool police station at 2pm on Saturday, but no charges had been laid by Saturday evening and police said their inquiries were continuing.
Acting Assistant Commissioner Anthony Boyd said the Mercedes was reported stolen an hour after the crash and that police had “information which would form part of our investigation”.
He said police believed the trio who fled were young men and investigators had identified a “person of interest”.
“The evidence at this stage suggests the Mercedes has crossed to the incorrect side of the road, attempting to overtake a car in front of it, and has collided head-on with the Toyota [Echo].
“From the footage I’ve seen, it is very high speed but I’m unable to speculate as to exactly what that speed was.
“It’s abhorrent behaviour. I think the nature of the collision itself is totally unacceptable behaviour in the first instance, and then to flee the scene and not offer assistance to people in a vehicle – you may have been able to provide some form of first aid, which may have assisted in saving their lives.”
Boyd said police later stopped the Volkswagen in the neighbouring suburb of Ashcroft.
Acting Assistant Commissioner Anthony Boyd holds a press conference after the fatal crash.Credit: Rhett Wyman
The driver of that car, an 18-year-old man, was arrested about 11.30pm on Friday after attending Liverpool police station but has since been released without charge.
Boyd said the three men who fled the Mercedes were not in the Volkswagen when police stopped it. He said police were still trying to determine the relationship between the driver of the Volkswagen and the three men who fled, but the two vehicles were “in close proximity” at the time of the crash.
“We’ve seen horrific collisions in the last week both in NSW and Victoria,” Boyd said.
“If somebody is aware of what they’re doing, and can amend their behaviour, we can prevent these collisions from occurring.”
Flowers at the site of the fatal car crash in Heckenberg. Credit: Rhett Wyman
Two boys, aged nine and 10, were killed and a nine-year-old girl was injured in a separate crash in Monterey, near Brighton-le-Sands, on August 25.
Jimmy Martin Brito, 33, from Beverly Hills, has been charged with two counts of dangerous driving causing death, and one count of causing bodily harm by misconduct over that incident. Police are investigating if high-speed street racing was involved.
Four people in their 70s were also killed on the Hume Highway near Wodonga, Victoria, on Wednesday after their car was involved in a collision with a B-double truck.
“Road trauma is catastrophic for everyone involved, not only for the victims in the actual collision themselves, but the communities and the families of those victims down the track,” Boyd said.
“Dangerous driving and speeding are prevalent factors in road trauma. And I say to everyone, please slow down.”
Police have appealed for public help to identify the occupants of the Mercedes. Anyone with dashcam or mobile phone footage of the crash, or other information, should call police or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
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2023-09-02 08:41:53Z
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