The daughter of the truck driver jailed for killing four police officers in Melbourne revealed today she told Mohinder Singh to stay at home on the day of the Eastern Freeway tragedy.
“I thought he was going to kill someone if he drove,” Harpreet Bajwa said as she gave evidence on the first day of a committal hearing in the case against trucking boss Simiona Tuteru.
She said he was rambling about seeing ghosts, aliens and witches.
The hearing in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court is expected to examine what the Connect Logistics manager knew about Singh’s impaired state and what he did, if anything, to encourage him to get behind the wheel.
Tuteru is facing 80 charges, including four counts of manslaughter over the deadly crash on April 22 last year.
Bajwa said her father went to his Lyndhurst workplace that same day to have a meeting with Tuteru after some of his colleague’s had raised concerns about his ability to drive.
“His voice was racing, his pupils were bigger. He seemed pretty terrified and couldn’t stop speaking.
“He kept repeating himself. I knew something was wrong with him that day.
“I told him that he shouldn’t be going to that meeting that day as I didn’t think he was fit to drive. I told him to stay home.”
But Bajwa told the court her father thought he’d lose his job if he didn’t go.
“He said he absolutely needed to otherwise he would get fired,” she said.
“He didn’t think he had a choice.”
The hearing, which will run all week before returning for one day on June 2, will allow magistrate Luisa Bazzani to determine if there is sufficient evidence to order Tuteru to stand trial in the Supreme Court.
The court heard Singh would be called to give evidence against his boss at next month’s hearing.