Truck driver pleads guilty to fatal Pimpinio crash

The family and passengers of a bus driver who died in a collision with a truck on Victoria’s Western Highway say their lives have been irrevocably damaged by the incident.

On Wednesday, at a hearing in Geelong, truck driver Timothy Walsh pleaded guilty to culpable driving causing the death of Emil Pich near Pimpinio, in the Wimmera region, in 2019.

In her victim impact statement, Mr Pich’s partner included a loving poem that he had written for her before returning home from one of his bus trips.

She said she would never get to live the life with him she had been looking forward to.

“I have nothing to look forward to since he was taken from me. I’ve withdrawn from everything [except basic life activities]. This man was my life.”  

Mr Walsh, 37, of Murray Bridge in South Australia also pleaded guilty to three counts of negligently causing serious injury to three passengers on the bus, Andrew Muscat, Barbara Page and Vicki Stephens.

The court was told that Ms Stephens had suffered short-term memory loss, violent panic attacks, thoughts of suicide and needed a walker to get around. Her teeth, nose and septum bone were broken in the collision.

Mr Pich was killed when his Firefly bus hit the underside of a B-Double’s upturned trailer at 2am on July 11, 2019.

At the time, the rig’s trailers were upturned and covering the entire highway.

The court was told the trailers broke away from the truck cabin when Mr Walsh swerved to correct the vehicle from veering off the highway minutes earlier.

Truck driver apologises

After being charged in July, 2020, Mr Walsh originally entered a plea of not guilty.

It is understood that Mr Walsh changed his plea to guilty just prior to a directions hearing scheduled for April 29 this year.

The prosecution’s summary notes acknowledged this guilty plea entitled Mr Walsh to a discount on his sentence.

Mr Walsh’s defence lawyer accepted his client would serve time, and would regret the consequences of his actions “for the rest of his life”.

He added that the judge — when deciding a sentence — should take into account Mr Walsh’s two young children and the fact he had given up truck-driving since the crash.

The court was told culpable driving causing death carried a maximum sentence of 20 years’ prison and that the charge of negligently causing serious injury carried a maximum of 10 years’ prison.

Judge James Parrish adjourned proceedings until August 3 for further pleas, revoking Mr Walsh’s bail and remanding him in custody.