Kiwi-born diabetic William "Bill" Swales has had all charges against him struck out by a magistrate. Photo / Seven News
Kiwi-born diabetic William "Bill" Swales has had all charges against him struck out by a magistrate. Photo / Seven News
A diabetic driver who passed out from dwindling blood sugar levels and killed five people at a Victoria pub has had all charges against him struck out by a magistrate.
The magistrate criticised prosecutors as he threw out their “weak” case against Kiwi-born William Swale, 66, who ploughed into and killed five people in a beer garden.
All 14 charges against Swale were struck out after a three-day committal hearing in Ballarat Magistrates Court over the deadly November 2023 crash.
He had been facing five charges of culpable driving causing death, two of negligently causing serious injury and seven counts of engaging in reckless conduct by driving a motor vehicle with low blood glucose levels.
His movements were captured on CCTV shortly before the crash.
The type-1 diabetic, who was diagnosed in 1994, suffered a severe hypoglycaemic episode and passed out while driving his white BMW SUV, which then crashed into patrons outside the Royal Daylesford Hotel.
The car mounted a kerb just after 6pm on November 5 and hit the victims, who were sitting in the pub’s beer garden.
Pratibha Sharma, 44, her daughter Anvi, 9, and partner Jatin Kumar, 30, their friend Vivek Bhatia, 38, and his son Vihaan, 11, were all killed, while six others were injured.
Evidence was heard from diabetes experts, police, paramedics and a witness who found Swale sitting behind the wheel looking “wasted” within one minute of the crash.
About half an hour before the crash, he tried to get a seat at a deli but was turned away as it was too busy.
His blood sugar levels plummeted from 7.8 to 2.9 within about two hours, the court was told this week.
After the crash, a paramedic found Swale’s blood sugar was below 1.1, which the court heard meant he was close to going into a coma or dying.
Swale’s lawyer, Dermot Dann KC, asked the court to discharge the case as his client was unconscious at the time of the crash because of a “severe hypoglycaemic attack”.
Prosecutor Jeremy McWilliams said Swale was a long-term diabetic who should have been aware of the risks of his blood sugar levels declining before the crash.
However, magistrate Guillaume Bailin found on Thursday afternoon that the prosecution case was flawed and decided not to commit Swale to face a criminal trial.
He discharged the entire case, as he said there was not enough evidence to support a conviction by a jury on any of the 14 charges.
”The evidence is so weak that the prospects of conviction are minimal,” he told the court.
Victorian police at the scene of the crashed BMW at the Royal Daylesford Hotel in Daylesford, Victoria. Photo via video / 9 News
Bailin was critical of the way the Crown had framed its case against Swale, which was that his period of negligence began at 5.36pm and not earlier that day.
Because of this, Bailin said his decision was not about whether Swale was being negligent in ignoring warning signs about his declining blood sugar levels, or by driving without getting food.
”This was about one issue: were the actions of the accused from 5.36pm voluntary?” he said.
Damage to the car at the Daylesford Hotel beer garden was visible at the scene of the tragedy at the pub in Victoria. Photo / 7 News
From 5.36pm, the accused was suffering a severe hypoglycaemic episode, the result of which his actions of driving were non-voluntary.
”No hypothesis of guilt is open, given how the Crown have made their case.”
He noted none of the victims’ names was aired in court during the committal, as he acknowledged how difficult the process would have been for their families, who attended court every day.
”This is a highly emotionally charged case,” he said.
”This hearing is not about whether the accused is guilty or not. It does not permit space to talk about any impact on the victims or family, nor can it in any real way reflect the lives of the victims.”
Bailin said those present in court, including family of Swale, had carried themselves “with dignity and decorum that was ... perhaps missing from the bar table”.
Swale, who was previously on bail, walked free from court.
