The family of the youngest son who was murdered in a hit-and-run accident in South Australia has confronted the driver in court, along with police commissioner Grant Stevens.
Stevens and his wife Emma were embraced by loved ones as they conveyed to Dhirren Singh Randhawa the immense sorrow he inflicted in the November disaster.
“You cannot possibly understand what you’ve taken from us,” they pointed out.
“So much of the vibrancy in our lives has been sapped away by losing Charlie at the very moment he was maturing into a man of whom we were tremendously proud.
His room has not changed and never will.
“We can’t bring ourselves to change it and we don’t want to.”
The driver was informed by Charlie’s sister Sophie that she despises him.
In June, Randhawa, a 19-year-old from Goolwa Beach, south of Adelaide, pled guilty to a single charge of murderous driving without due care and from the scene of the accident.
Randhawa assaulted Charlie, 18, while he was celebrating at Schoolies.
Randhawa had written a letter of apology to the family before.
He made the public announcement during today’s pre-sentence hearing.
As the worst moment of his life, knowing that Charlie’s life support had been turned off was, Randhawa informed the Stevens family, and he thinks about them every day.
The incident’s new elements were heard for the first time, including the fact that Randhawa accelerated towards Charlie and his pals, even though he wasn’t speeding.
Also, Randhawa will feel the effects for a long time.
He is facing possible jail time and has been the target of death threats, including one that required the assistance of the police.
Deportation to Malaysia is another possibility.