Horrific videos taken by a Porsche driver who filmed four dead and dying police officers after a horrific crash have been laid bare in court.
Millionaire businessman Richard Paul Pusey, 42, is being sentenced via videolink on Wednesday in a Melbourne court over the April 22, 2020, crash.
The unemployed property developer was pulled over for speeding at 149km/h in his black 2016 Porsche 911 on Melbourne’s Eastern Freeway.
As police were discussing impounding his sports car by the side of the road, a truck driven by drugged-up Mohinder Singh Bajwa crashed into them.
Millionaire businessman Richard Paul Pusey, 42, is being sentenced via videolink on Wednesday in a Melbourne court over the April 22, 2020, crash
Pusey was pulled over for speeding at 149km/h in his black 2016 Porsche 911 on Melbourne’s Eastern Freeway, before a truck crashed into the scene killing all four cops
Senior Constable Kevin King (pictured, far left), Constable Glen Humphris (second from left), Leading Senior Constable Lynette Taylor (second from right) and and Constable Josh Prestney (far right) all died in the crash
Senior Constable Kevin King, Constable Glen Humphris, Leading Senior Constable Lynette Taylor and and Constable Josh Prestney all died.
Pusey avoided the crash after he jumped the fence to urinate in some bushes, and emerged to film the scene including close-up shots of the dying officers.
He remains in jail at the Metropolitan Remand Centre where he has languished since he was arrested again late last year after causing a scene on the roof of his Fitzroy home, and appeared via videolink in a mask and prison greens.
The County Court of Victoria heard a graphic recounting of the content of the two disgraceful videos, adding up to three minutes and eight seconds.
Pusey numerous times said variants of ‘absolutely amazing’ and ‘look at that’ when surveying the scene and zooming in on the dead officers’ injuries.
At one point he said ‘this is f**king justice’ in the general direction of the road as other motorists went past.
The court heard Pusey first retrieved his two mobile phones and a lunch bag containing drugs from the wreck of his car.
He then turned to Senior Constable Taylor, who was sprawled on top of the Porsche with her legs crushed by the truck and her hand through the sunroof, moaning and near death.
‘There you go,’ he said to her as his camera zoomed in on her face and injuries.
The mortgage broker (pictured in a court sketch) avoided being struck because he’d been urinating off to the side of the road
Pusey’s lawyers arrive at the County Court of Victoria in Melbourne for sentencing hearing on Wednesday
Pusey then wandered around the scene, filming and photographing it along with the horrific injuries suffered by the four officers.
‘I think everyone got cleaned up – there’s four people, look at that,’ he said.
Soon after he showed a close up of injuries to one of the male officers and said: ‘Oh he’s smashed, look at that. Lucky I went and had a piss.’
Around him, motorists who pulled over upon seeing the crash scene were trying to help the four officers, including a doctor.
This did not stop Pusey’s distasteful comments, as he complained about being pulled over at 149km/h and his beloved car being wrecked.
‘Look at that, man, you f**king c**ts, guess I’ll be getting an Uber home,’ he said.
Bystanders berated him for filming instead of helping the officers, including one who could be seen in the footage pointing at him and saying ‘mate, um, don’t’.
Another man asked for help pulling a blanket over the body of a dead officer, but Pusey refused saying ‘they’re dead’.
The court on earlier occasions heard Pusey was allegedly heard to say as Leading Senior Constable Taylor lay dying: ‘All I wanted to do was go home and eat my sushi and now you have f**ked my f**king car’.
However, this allegedly line was not referred to in Wednesday’s sentencing hearing, which relied only on the videos’ content.
Partner of Senior Constable Kevin King, Sharron Mackenzie (2nd left) arrives to the County Court of Victoria in Melbourne
Parents of Josh Prestney, Andrew (2nd right) and Belinda Prestney (2nd left) arrive to the County Court of Victoria in Melbourne
Partner of Leading Senior Constable Lynette Taylor, Stuart Schultz (centre) arrives to the County Court of Victoria in Melbourne
Pusey eventually got a lift from a passing motorist. He sent messages to friends throughout the evening in which he bragged about driving at 300km/h.
The next day he went to his GP, where he showed the videos to the receptionist and two staff at the chemist next door. He then sent the videos to three friends.
Later when interviewed by police he admitted he was ashamed of the videos and what he said during them.
He insisted his comments were not derogatory but acknowledged they seemed that way because the language was ‘horrible’.
‘That’s just how s**t comes out of my head, I’m highly offensive, I struggle every day to keep my mouth shut,’ he said, likening it to Tourette syndrome.
Pusey’s lawyer, Dermot Dann QC, attempted to paint ‘a worrying picture of a man afflicted with serious mental illnesses’.
He told the court the serial offender had borderline personality disorder, anti-social personality disorder, and an anti-authority complex.
‘Amongst all the hatred and condemnation, there is a part for sympathy and mercy,’ he said.
He repeatedly tried to get the help since the crash, only to be turned away by some hospitals, the barrister added.
Mr Dann said the ‘severe personality disorders’ dated back to when Pusey was bullied about his name in school.
He detailed the many jobs Pusey tried and failed at over his life, beginning with a paper route aged 10 and shifts at McDonald’s as a teenager.
Richard Pusey was arrested on April 23, one day after the fatal crash which killed four police officers
As police were discussing impounding his sports car by the side of the road, a truck driven by drugged-up Mohinder Singh Bajwa crashed into them
Pusey was kicked out of school just a few week into Year 10 and worked as tram driver and nurse without much success before becoming a successful finance broker.
However, this job was lost when he was jailed in 2018, but he bounced back by making millions in property development.
Judge Trevor Wraight said Pusey was ‘probably the most hated man in Australia’ and noted that all his many jobs ended due to misconduct or disputes linked to his personality disorder.
He observed dealing with his mental illnesses was a ‘constant battle’ leaving him socially isolated from primary school.
Mr Dann told the court Pusey had been suicidal since the crash, which he claimed gave him Post Traumatic Stress Disorder due to how close he came to death.
Also weighing on him was the death of his two brothers, one of whom took his own life a month ago and Pusey was denied leave from jail to attend the funeral.
Pusey bought a length of rope, which he told his psychologist he obtained because he was thinking about killing himself.
He fashioned into a noose and put around his neck during the December 27 rooftop incident, and told police who attended the scene to shoot him, the court heard.
Pusey fashioned a noose and put around his neck during a December 27 incident on the rooftop of his home, and told police who attended the scene to shoot him
Mr Dann said Pusey’s mental health was worsened by the world thinking he purposely taunted police as they lay dying, which the court now accepts that though his comments were disgusting did not amount to taunting.
‘[That is] a terrible thing for even someone of the most robust mental health to have to deal with,’ he said.
He claimed the public hatred of Pusey amounted to extra-curial punishment that should be taken into account in sentencing.
He suggested Pusey had spent enough time behind bars and could be released on a community corrections order.
Mr Dann suggested that in Pusey’s ‘disordered self-absorbed world’ that was taking in the ‘inhumanity at what’s going on around him’, he may not have realised his comments were being heard by anyone.
The lawyer said Pusey asked him to apologise to the police officers’ families.
‘He’s ashamed and was ashamed of the recording and what is said on the recording,’ he said.
Mr Dann noted another passerby filmed the scene, and unlike Pusey he uploaded it to Snapchat.
Pusey’s lawyer, Dermot Dann QC (pictured), attempted to paint ‘a worrying picture of a man afflicted with serious mental illnesses’
Pusey was kicked out of school just a few week into Year 10 and worked as tram driver and nurse without much success before becoming a successful finance broker (pictured)
Pusey three weeks ago admitted to numerous charges including ‘outraging decency’, which hasn’t been used since the 1600s in England.
He also pleaded guilty to conduct endangering serious injury, speeding, possessing a drug of dependence, and some other minor charges.
During a hearing last month, prosecutor Robyn Harper warned Pusey that the Crown would not back down on the ancient ‘outrage’ charge, arguing that elements of the charge had been used before in prosecuting sex offenders.
Ms Harper produced newspaper court reports dating back more than 100 years to back-up her claims.
While in the lower magistrates’ court, it was heard that Pusey was co-operative with police after they pulled him over on April 22 on Melbourne‘s Eastern Freeway amid allegations he was speeding.
Mr Dann said Pusey’s behaviour toward Leading Senior Constable Taylor had been conducted in a ‘good natured way’ before the truck hit.
‘There was laughing between them. This can be seen. There is evidence of Mr Pusey describing Leading Senior Constable Taylor as being lovely and nice. And this is in the immediate aftermath of this filming,’ Mr Dann said.
‘It’s no part of the defence case that there can be some kind of characterisation of this whole event as Mr Pusey being angry with the individual officers that he was dealing with at the scene. We say that’s not part of our case and it’s not the evidence.’
Mr Dann said his client had not argued with police and said the prosecution agreed too that Pusey had not taunted the dying officer.
‘He cannot be described as taunting any of the police officers,’ he said.
Mr Dann argued no trace of the actual charge being prosecuted could be found in Australian legal history.
Police officers lined the streets during the repatriation ceremony of Constable Glen Humphris at Hovell Tree Park in Albury on May 2
The court had heard previously the legal process could have dragged on for years if Pusey contested the charge.
The driver of the truck, Singh, already pleaded guilty to four counts of culpable driving and also remains behind bars.
Mr Dann had previously argued that even if the charge did exist, his client could not have been found guilty of it because hardly anyone had heard his comments.
Pusey has been behind bars practically since April when a truck crashed into four officers after they pulled him over for allegedly driving at 149km/h in his Porsche 911 with cannabis and MDMA in his system.
The three male officers were already dead when Pusey allegedly began filming.
Public funerals were held for all four officers after the tragedy, which marked the single greatest loss of police life in Victoria’s history.
Pusey’s previous 12 charges include driving at a dangerous speed, reckless conduct endangering life, destruction of evidence, perverting the course of justice, failing to remain at the scene after a drug test and failing to render assistance.
At a previous hearing, Magistrate Jo Metcalf labelled Pusey’s alleged filming of the graphic crash scene as ‘highly intrusive and morally repugnant’ but noted it was not illegal.
Source link
