Two elderly siblings who died when their carer allegedly deliberately drove their car into a tree north of Queensland‘s Sunshine Coast have been identified.
Emergency crews were called to Callemonda Road and Mary Valley Road in Brooloo, near Gympie, about 170km north of Brisbane, at 2pm on Monday after a Suzuki Kizashi collided with a tree.
Norma Diana Dutton, 85, was in the back seat and her brother Clive William Millers, 83, was in the front passenger seat, and both tragically died at the scene.
Ms Dutton’s neighbours Jennifer and Lee Hurran said she was a ‘beautiful lady’.
‘We couldn’t have asked for better. Just a beautiful lady who was there for everybody,’ Ms Hurren told the ABC.
Mr Millers, from nearby Kandanga, worked at the town’s sawmill for a decade and then later on his family’s pineapple farms.
The driver of the vehicle, 61-year-old Stuart Daryl Gray, from Valdora, suffered leg injuries and was charged with two counts of manslaughter on Tuesday morning.
He was flown to Sunshine Coast University Hospital with serious injuries but is expected to recover.
Norma Diana Dutton, 85, was in the back seat and her brother Clive William Millers, 83, was in the front passenger seat of the car
The corner of Callemonda Road and Mary Valley Road in Brooloo where the Suzuki hit a tree
He remains under police guard and the matter was mentioned in Gympie Magistrates Court on Tuesday where bail was not applied for.
Police told Daily Mail Australia they will allege that the driver knew the passengers ‘in a professional capacity’.
The car is understood to have left the road and struck the tree head-on.
‘We now believe that crash was not an accident but a deliberate act,’ Acting Superintendent Brad Inskip told reporters on Tuesday.
‘The two victims were related and their relationship with the driver was … professional – he was employed in a caring role.’
Officers responding to reports of a single vehicle crash discovered the elderly passengers in the severely damaged Suzuki.
‘It doesn’t appear to be alcohol-related,’ Supt Inskip said.
The matter will return to court on May 29.
Investigators have asked anyone who may have more information, or dashcam footage of the crash, to contact Crime Stoppers.
