The mother of two young boys killed in a horror crash has denied she was taking them to see the man now charged over their deaths when they were hit.
Shayleen Frail, 34, lost her two sons when a red Holden allegedly driven by 25-year-old Jacob Steven Donn mounted the gutter and hit them in Wellington, central west NSW, on January 5.
Sheldon, six, and Shane Shorey, seven, were killed instantly while Ms Frail was taken to hospital and placed into a coma after suffering spinal and leg injuries.
Speaking after she was released from hospital, Ms Frail said she was taking her sons to the Wellington Aquatic Centre at the time of the crash – and not to see Donn.
‘I wasn’t there to meet Jacob. I wasn’t there for anything but to take my babies to the pool. We just didn’t get to make it in there,’ Ms Frail told Nine News.
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Shayleen Frail (pictured) lost her two young sons Sheldon, six, and Shane Shorey, seven, in a horror car crash on January 5 in Wellington, central west NSW
Ms Frail (right) has denied she was on her way to visit Jacob Steven Donn (left) when he allegedly lost control of his red Holden sedan and ploughed into her, her two sons, and two other boys
Sheldon (left), 6, and Shane Shorey (right), 7, were killed when an out-of-control car allegedly being driven by Donn ploughed into them
Police initially believed the mother was leaving the pool with her two young sons and two other boys when the tragedy occurred.
But two survivors of the crash told loved ones they had not yet been into the pool that day.
Workers at Wellington Aquatic Centre corroborated the boy’s claims they were not at the pool that day.
With NSW Police detectives now planning to interview the boys, Daily Mail Australia can confirm that Donn and Ms Frail both knew each other before the accident.
The crash happened on Warne Street, just outside the unit block where Donn and his girlfriend lived.
Police allege that in the moments before he ploughed into the group, he was doing burnouts on the road.
‘(The surviving boy) got out of the car and said to Shayleen: ‘The pool’s this way?’,’ a source said.
‘The crash scene is 200 metres away from the pool.’
This is the red car that police allege Donn was driving when he hit the group of five, killing two brothers. Donn’s lawyer told Dubbo Local Court last week he admitted to being at the wheel
Ms Frail said just because she had been in jail in the past did not make her a bad mother. Pictured, her two young sons Shane and Sheldon Shorey
Donn and girlfriend Glenys Honeysett both knew Ms Frail having all grown up in the small country town, and would regularly chat on Facebook.
‘They knew her very well. She was friends with Glenys,’ a person close to them said.
Donn has been charged with 14 offences including dangerous driving occasioning death. He was refused bail in Dubbo Local Court last Tuesday.
Ms Frail has a long criminal history and was jailed in 2017 on charges of stealing and dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception.
She was released on parole in 2018, but in July 2019 was back before the courts and received a two-year sentence for similar offences.
Ms Frail was most recently released on parole in mid-2020, by which point the boys’ father Joseph Shorey and her sons had moved to Queensland.
But Ms Frail told Nine News her past did not define her as a mother.
‘Just because I’ve been to jail, just because I’ve been an ex-user does not take anything away from me being a good mum,’ she said.
‘It doesn’t take away from the fact I love my boys and this is a tragedy.’
Ms Frail said: ‘I wasn’t there for anything but to take my babies to the pool’. Pictured, the Wellington Aquatic Centre which Ms Frail said she was taking her young sons to visit
Jacob Steven Donn had never held a drivers licence but still allegedly got behind the wheel of this Holden sedan on Tuesday afternoon
The mother-of-four suffered a punctured lung, fractured knee and spinal injuries.
She said when she woke from her coma at Sydney’s Westmead Hospital she asked her uncle what had happened and by ‘the way he grabbed my hand I knew… Shane and Sheldon couldn’t be saved’.
From her hospital bed, Ms Frail had told a friend: ‘I wish it was me (that died)’.
‘Oh my girl… (I) wish it was me and not my babies,’ she wrote, using a friend’s phone.
‘I gotta keep fighting to make my babies proud.’
Ms Frail said she wants to use her time to become a road safety advocate.
‘Look at the ramifications of this. I lost my babies, me and Joseph are burying our babies. I lost my whole family my two babies in one instant,’ she told Nine.
Funerals for Shane and Sheldon were meant to be held this week but have now been delayed as their families determine where to hold them.
Ms Frail’s family is based in Wellington, while Mr Shorey now lives in Queensland.
In the aftermath of the crash he drove through the night from Queensland to visit the scene of the tragedy.
The father of the two boys Joseph Shorey said his children were all incredible sporty and loved the outdoors, particularly playing rugby league and soccer in the background, and riding their bikes and scooters. Pictured on their scooters above are Shane (left) and Sheldon .
The boys’ father Joseph Shorey (pictured in blue) made an emotional visit to the scene the day after the crash
Mr Shorey had last seen his sons the day before their deaths when they told him they loved him and would see him in just a few weeks upon their return to Queensland, where they lived.
‘I only saw them the day before and they gave me big hugs and cuddles and said: ‘Dad, we love you, we’ll see you on the 17th’,’ Mr Shorey said.
‘Now I’ve lost my two youngest boys.
‘I can’t believe it mate. I’m so shattered. It is gut wrenching, it is heartbreaking, it is everything you ever imagine it would be.
‘My kids should be burying me, I shouldn’t have to be burying them, they were my world.’
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