Plea For Youth Facilities After Boys Die In Stolen Car Smash
The Age
Monday July 23, 2001
The friends and neighbors of a 14-year-old boy killed when the stolen car he was driving hit a pole on Saturday night have pleaded with the State Government to provide more facilities for the children of Whittington, one of Geelong's poorest suburbs.
"There's just nothing here for them to do," said Pip Williams, who had been looking after the boy, Beau McDonald, since he returned to Victoria from Queensland six months ago.
"They can only hang around the park. The BMX tracked has closed. They just end up in trouble."
Beau and his 16-year-old friend Brett Allen, also from Whittington, died instantly when Beau lost control of the stolen Holden Commodore on a bend and the car ran off the Barwon Heads Road in Connewarre, just south of Geelong, colliding with a pole.
The car was stolen from Geelong and was travelling at high speed with a second car stolen from Barwon Heads a short time earlier.
A police patrol car going the other way noticed the speeding cars moments before the accident, and was on the scene in less than a minute.
Tim Shute, who lives opposite the scene of the accident, said the bend in the road had been a problem for many years.
``I reckon they must have been travelling at close to 150kmh," he said. ``It's a nasty bend. I know that pole has claimed at least one life in the past."
Tim Evans, a friend of Beau McDonald, said the 14-year-old had moved to Queensland with his mother but returned six months ago after having trouble settling in.
``He was really popular," he said. ``Most people around here knew him. He loved having a good time."
The boy had not attended school for some time, had recently started racing cars and wanted to be a mechanic.
``He was just a boy who didn't realise what a stupid thing he was doing," Ms Williams said. ``I just want other kids to know how dangerous this is. Beau won't get a second chance."
Distressed neighbors said cars were regularly stolen and petty crime was a problem in the Whittington area.
``The problem is the kids have got nothing to do," said one. ``This is an area that has a lot of ministry housing, and there are kids everywhere. They're not bad, but they just hang around and get up to no good."
The dead boy's mother is travelling to Victoria for the funeral, which will be held later in the week.
The 16-year-old driver of a second stolen car was arrested soon after the accident and charged with one count of endangering life, two counts of motor vehicle theft, one count of unlicensed driving, one count of careless driving and speeding.
He has been bailed to appear in the Geelong Childrens Court on August 24.
The accident kicked off a horror weekend on the state's roads.
A 55-year-old motorcyclist was killed on the Whittlesea-Yea Road after colliding with a four-wheel drive near Kinglake West at about 12.15pm yesterday. Later yesterday, a man in his 20s died in a single vehicle accident when the stolen car he was driving flipped and landed upside down in a creek at a fuel refinery at Corio.
The accidents take the state's road toll to 243 for the year - 13 more than at the same time last year.
© 2001 The Age