Diabetic driver who killed five felt ‘hazy’ before Daylesford crash: inquest

The diabetic driver who killed five people when he crashed his car into diners enjoying a sunny long weekend outside a Daylesford pub in 2023 has told a coronial inquest “an unfortunate series of events” led to the tragedy.

William Swale, 69, acknowledged the trauma the crash had caused the families of the victims and told the Victorian Coroners Court on Tuesday that he was reminded of the victims whenever he saw young children and families.

“I think of them from the moment I wake up to the moment I go to sleep,” Swale told the court. “They are always with me.”

Swale, who no longer drives, said the tragedy had been traumatising, and he was devastated to have been a part of it: “I am sorry for this catastrophe.”

“You could say an unfortunate series of events [happened]. And I acknowledge that it would have traumatised the families enormously.”

After being ordered in January to give evidence, Swale on Tuesday recalled his movements before the crash to the first day of an inquest into the tragedy.

Swale, who arrived in court with lawyer Dermot Dann, KC, said he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 1994 but had not received formal education on how to manage the condition or drive safely. He later conceded he had conversations with medical practitioners about his condition and his blood glucose monitoring device.

On November 5, 2023, Swale spent the morning clay shooting with friends in Clunes and drove to Daylesford in the afternoon looking for food, the court heard. Swale said he was in an “extremely elated mood” after shooting “incredibly well”.

He said his memory of the journey became vague as he approached Daylesford, and he did not remember crashing into the alfresco area outside the Royal Daylesford Hotel – at the bottom of Albert Street – about 6pm.

Swale said his last recollection before the tragedy was walking into Winespeake Cellar + Deli, a cheese and wine bar in the centre of town.

“I remember the paramedics saying you have been in an accident,” Swale told the court.

CCTV footage recorded before the crash was played to the court and shows Swale walking into the deli at 5.21pm that day, and walking out without buying food because no tables were free.

Security camera footage from a nearby bowls club about 20 minutes later shows Swale’s white BMW driving along a street and then stopping in the middle of the road, which forced other vehicles to drive around him. Swale’s BMW then does a U-turn and drives back the way it came.

Swale checked his blood glucose level at 5.17pm, the court heard, and obtained a reading of 2.9, a figure below the 3.9 reading that would have set off an alarm on his phone.

Swale said on Tuesday he did not recall an alarm going off.

Asked by Rishi Nathwani, KC, the counsel assisting the inquest, why he had not consumed any of the snacks he kept in his car or asked for takeaway food at the wine bar to manage his glucose levels, Swale said hypoglycemia caused a person’s brain to “shut down”.

“I have [a] very good memory of making very stupid decisions,” he told the court.

Swale said he had previously suffered an episode of severe hypoglycemia in 2003 at home, when he became faint, which prompted his wife to take him to a medical centre for treatment.

He said that in the lead-up to the fatal crash he had felt “hazy”, but did not experience lip tingling, which is often associated with low blood sugar levels.

Diners were seated at wooden picnic tables on the grassed area outside the Royal Daylesford Hotel when Swale’s BMW careened down a hill and into patrons.

Vivek Bhatia, 38, and son Vihaan, 11, died at the scene, alongside family friends Pratibha Sharma, 44, and Jatin Kumar, 30. Sharma’s nine-year-old daughter, Anvi, was taken to hospital, where she later died.

Vihaan’s mother, Ruchi Bhatia, and his brother, Abeer, were seriously injured. Three other people, a woman in her 40s from Kyneton, a man in his 30s from Cockatoo and a boy, then aged 11 months, were also injured.

Swale was initially charged with 14 offences, including five counts of culpable driving causing death. But a Ballarat magistrate in 2024 found the driver had no case to answer and dismissed the charges against him.

The inquest, which is expected to run over nine days, will examine the circumstances before and after the crash, including Swale’s diabetes management, his food and drink consumption, his insulin administration, blood glucose readings and alarms from his monitoring device.

It will also look at safe driving guidelines and education and public awareness for diabetic drivers.

The inquest continues.

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