Fatal pub crash driver’s big move

Lawyers acting for a diabetic man accused of killing five in a horror beer garden crash will seek for the case to be thrown out of court.

William Swale, 66, was charged by police a month after his white BMW SUV allegedly ploughed into diners outside the The Royal Daylesford Hotel in Victoria’s spa country on November 5 last year.

He has appeared in the Ballarat Magistrates’ Court this week for a committal hearing in which a magistrate will decide if the case should be sent for a jury trial.

Prosecutors allege the New Zealand-born retiree ignored nine low blood sugar alerts on his phone from an arm monitor ahead of the crash.

His defence, led by Dermot Dann KC, has argued the incident, while tragic, was squarely a medical episode, saying there was no dispute he was suffering a severe hypoglycaemic attack at the time.

Earlier this week, Mr Dann flagged he would be arguing that Mr Swale had no case to answer and the charges should be dismissed when it returns to court on Wednesday.

First responders found the Mount Macedon man unable to communicate at the scene, with witnesses describing him as sweating profusely and appearing “wasted”.

He had been making his way home after attending a multi-day national clay target shooting championship in Clunes – a half-hour drive west of Daylesford.

The court was told Mr Swale’s blood sugar level was 7.2 mmol per litre – within the normal range – about 4pm but had fallen to 2.9 by 5.17pm.

He was first diagnosed with type-1 diabetes in 1994 and had been a “model patient” in managing the condition, his endocrinologist Matthew Cohen told the court on Tuesday.

“This is an unusually rapid decline in blood glucose levels,” he said.

The court was told Mr Swale had dangerously low blood sugar levels when treated at the scene and was unable to recall what happened.

Road crash reconstruction expert Janelle Hardiman told the court there was no evidence of braking or steering input before or after the crash.

She agreed with a suggestion by Mr Dann that this could reflect the driver was in a “deeply impaired state”.

Five people were killed and others injured when Mr Swale’s vehicle ploughed into the front beer garden of the Royal Daylesford Hotel at 6.07pm.

Melbourne woman Pratibha Sharma, 44, her nine-year-old daughter Anvi, and Ms Sharma’s husband Jatin Kumar, 30, died, alongside their friend Vevek Bhati and his 11-year-old son Vihann.

Mr Swale was charged with five counts of culpable driving causing death, two counts of negligently causing serious injury and seven counts of reckless conduct endangering life.

The hearing, before magistrate Guillaume Bailin, continues.