By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A trucking supervisor was warned hours before one of his drivers fatally ploughed into four police officers that the driver was not fit to drive, a court has heard.
Simiona Tuteru, 49, of the Lyndhurst-based Connect Logistics is facing a committal hearing for the police officers’ manslaughter.
Connect employee Stephen Harrison allegedly texted Mr Tuteru about 1.40pm on 22 April 2020 with concerns over the driver Mohinder Bajwa Singh’s “mental state”, according to phone records tendered to Melbourne Magistrates’ Court.
“He told me he was not in a good spot.
“He was putting trucks on wrong docks and had a sleep on the way back from Thomastown and slept in.
10:45 EDT, 19 May 2021
A truck driver who hit and killed four Melbourne police officers while high on drugs told a colleague his boss had cleaned his spirit and rid him of a curse before the crash.
That boss, Connect Logistics manager Simiona Tuteru, faces 82 charges including manslaughter after allegedly directing or requiring Mohinder Singh to work while fatigued.
Singh insisted on delivering by this one load that fatal afternoon in April 2020, fellow truck driver Michael Horrocks told Melbourne Magistrates Court on Wednesday.
Mohinder Singh (pictured) crashed a 19-tonne delivery truck on the Eastern Freeway on April 22 last year
Left to right: Constable Glen Humphris, Senior Constable Kevin King, Leading Senior Constable Lynette Taylor and Constable Joshua Prestney all died in the crash