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Subscriber only The heartbroken father of a young woman who was killed when she fell from a ute has penned a letter tendered by the teenage driver in court, believing he witnessed something nobody should have to see, the death of one of his best friends. Grace Ruhle died in a tragic accident on the evening of April 2, 2021, after she fell from a ute Hunter John Stojczan, 19, was driving along Springvale Road in Springvale, about 30km south of Dalby.
The terrible saga drew to a close in Dalby Magistrates Court on Tuesday, with Stojczan sentenced for failing to provide a specimen of breath, and for driving a vehicle where a passenger must not be in the part designed for the carriage of goods.
The heartbroken father of a young woman who died when she fell off the back of a ute shocked a courtroom when he said he felt sorry for the teenager who was behind the wheel.
Grace Ruhle, 23, died when she fell from the tray of a ute driven by Hunter John Stojczan along Springvale Road in Springvale, west of Brisbane, at about 10.30pm on April 2.
The 19-year-old was charged with failing to provide a breath test and driving with a person in part of the vehicle that s only designed to carry goods and appeared in Dalby Magistrates Court on Tuesday morning.
Premium Content You have to help Gracie.you have to help Gracie. Those were the harrowing cries of 19-year-old Hunter John Stojczan that rang out on Springvale Road on the evening of April 2, as he held the body of his friend Grace Ruhle, wrapped in his shirt. Surrounded by his friends and family, they could only watch on in horror as the 23-year-old Linthorpe woman lay on the ground, not breathing, before she died on the side of the road. Dozens of supporters lined the public gallery of Dalby Magistrates Court on Tuesday May 4, to hear the heartbreaking final moments and death of the young woman, when she fell from the vehicle Stojczan was driving.