For over a decade, former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews and his wife have dodged accountability for the car crash that nearly killed a teenage cyclist. But the wheels of justice grind on, even if at a glacial pace.
Late last year, a bombshell report by a former police assistant commissioner openly accused the Andrewses of lying – and Victoria Police of engaging in an orchestrated cover up. Disputing Andrews’ version of events, the report concluded that “It is most probable that the vehicle undertook a sweep turn at speed, cutting the corner and still on the incorrect side of the roadway… when the collision occurred.”
The report also concluded that, “It is my opinion that this deception is part of a course of conduct and a component of an overt cover-up to avoid implicating a political figure in a life-threatening crash.”
Further deepening suspicions of a cover-up, Labor-aligned law firm Slater and Gordon suddenly appeared at victim Ryan Meuleman’s hospital bedside, claiming to represent him. His parents insist they never engaged the law firm. The lawyers talked the bed-ridden teenager into accepting an $80,000 settlement.
The decade-long fight has taken a new twist.
Daniel and Catherine Andrews are facing a Federal Court defamation action over their statements on a near-fatal car crash with a teenage cyclist.
In an escalation of the long-running bike boy dispute, lawyers for Ryan Meuleman last week served concerns notices on the former Victorian premier and his wife, giving them 28 days to apologise and compensate him.
“No more lies,” Ryan’s father Peter Meuleman said. “Daniel and Catherine Andrews can either finally tell the truth now, and apologise to Ryan, or we can let a Federal Court judge decide.”
It’s not the only legal threat the Andrewses are facing. In a separate case, the Meuleman family is suing Slater and Gordon for failing to conduct “a full and proper investigation into the circumstances” of the accident and breaching their duty of care and obligations to him when negotiating his $80,000 Transport Accident Commission compensation payout. That trial is scheduled for this May.
The defamation case is the first time Mr and Mrs Andrews have faced personal legal action over the incident.
It centres on comments they made last September after the release of a damning review of the crash conducted by the state’s former Assistant Commissioner for Traffic and Operations Raymond Shuey.
The Shuey review found that the Andrews’ SUV was “travelling at speed” – on the wrong side of the road – and that Victoria Police had engaged in “an overt cover-up to avoid implicating a political figure in a life-threatening” incident […]
In a joint statement issued after the release of Dr Shuey’s review, the Andrews said: “This so-called report was commissioned by lawyers on behalf of their clients who are seeking money through the courts by suing their former lawyers […]
The couple spoke out against the Meulemans a second time last November after audio of the former premier’s triple-0 call from the scene of the crash was released, in which he tells an emergency services operator “we’ve hit him”.
Mr and Mrs Andrews said of the audio: “The recording confirms the previous statements we’ve made on this matter. The cyclist came flying through from the bike path at Ridley St and T-boned our car at speed.
A farrago of lies, insists the Meuleman family.
Mr Meuleman said the evidence would show claims about proper investigations being conducted by Victoria Police Professional Standards Command or IBAC were false.
“Ryan has suffered terribly because of what Daniel and Catherine Andrews did to him that day and because of the lies they’ve told since,” Mr Meuleman said. “He didn’t die that day, thank God … but a part of him did. The crash was so traumatic for him and the ongoing lies have been just as bad.”
Lies and cover-ups in Dandrewstan? Never.
