Warrnambool Standard: Emotional day in court

THE two surviving cyclists of a fatal road crash near Naringal in 2004 yesterday detailed the horrific incident during the trial of the man who crashed into the riders. Warrnambool athlete Barry Warren became emotional when describing how a car slammed into the group without warning on the Cobden-Warrnambool Road.

“I didn’t know what had hit us,” he said. “I felt this almighty whack in my back and I remember hitting the ground… and seeing Mick going through the air.” Michael Joseph Kenneally was killed when a car travelling towards Warrnambool hit him from behind, catapulting him about 50 metres up the road. The driver, 72-year-old Noel Francis Lenehan, of Ecklin South, has pleaded not guilty to culpable driving and negligently causing serious injury.

The Warrnambool County Court heard that Mr Warren was knocked off his bike after the Ford sedan’s side mirror smashed into his back. Fellow rider Terry Noonan avoided the car but hit the ground after being tangled up in the incident. “I knew something was wrong. Everyone was going down,” he told the court.

Both men rejected suggestions that they could have been riding three abreast at the time of impact, claiming there was two riders at the front. “We didn’t change positions. We were in the same formation all the way (down the road),” Mr Noonan said. The defence also contested the cyclists’ assertion that Mr Lenehan remarked at the accident scene that he had not seen the riders because of another car.

In the prosecution’s opening address it was revealed that evidence would show Mr Lenehan had ploughed into the cyclists at about 95 kmh. The defence stated that the usual elements of culpable driving – including speed, alcohol, drugs and mobile phone use – weren’t factors in the accident. Wearing headphones so he could clearly hear the court’s proceedings, Mr Lenehan, a retired dairy farmer, was not required to take the stand yesterday. The 12-person jury had visited the accident scene earlier to help follow evidence heard during the trial. The trial will continue today and the prosecution is expected to conclude its case tomorrow.