A St Edmund’s College student who once dreamed of playing professional football has told the ACT Supreme Court his future was taken from him the morning he was struck by a meth-fuelled driver.
In a letter read to the court, the 15-year-old boy said he was “just going to school like any other day”.
The court heard three of his fingers were severely injured in the crash, and both hands now remained weak, and painful.
He said he could no longer play football the way he once had.
“There’s things I can’t do properly anymore,” he said, describing the ongoing pain and anxiety when he passed the crash site.
Police investigating at the scene outside St Edmund’s College in Canberra where two teenage boys were hit by a stolen car. (ABC News: Emily Anderson)
In a statement read to the court, his father described arriving at the scene moments after the crash and using his body weight to stem bleeding from the other boy, before realising his own son was also seriously injured nearby.
“It was just carnage, people everywhere,” he said.’Moment of terror’: father
Tayler Hazell, 32, faced his victims during a sentence hearing today.
The packed court gallery included the schoolboys and their families.
Hazell pleaded guilty to multiple offences, including two counts of culpable driving causing grievous bodily harm, stealing a car and unlawfully taking a child.
The drama began outside Canberra when Hazell took a green Holden Commodore from outside a childcare centre in Sutton, NSW, on March 28 last year, with an eight-year-old girl still inside.
Hazell drove a short distance before letting the girl go, saying to her, “Oh, you’re a girl”.
“Hop out of the car and run to your Dad,” he said.
In that “moment of terror”, her father told the court his child’s innocence was stolen and her world view was forever altered.
During the hearing, the court also viewed footage collected from dashcam and CCTV cameras, showing Hazell inside the car weaving erratically across roads, crossing median strips and overtaking over cars at speed.
Moments later, Hazell drove onto the median strip on Canberra Avenue in Griffith, striking the two teenage boys as they were walking to school, before speeding into Manuka and crashing.
He was arrested soon after, telling police:Â
“I think I hit one of those kids, man I really think I f***ing hit one of those kids.”
Tayler Hazell crashed the stolen car outside St Christopher’s Cathedral in Manuka a short time after hitting the schoolboys. (ABC News: Emily Anderson)
49 days hospitalised, emergency surgery
The boys’ families delivered emotional victim impact statements, describing the lasting physical and psychological impact of Hazell’s decision to drive that day.
The mother of one of the boys said her son spent 49 days in hospital, underwent emergency surgery lasting eight-and-a-half hours and nearly lost his arm.
“Permission to amputate his arm was placed in front of me because of someone else’s actions,” she said.
“This was not an accident. You chose to get behind the wheel of a stolen car,” the first schoolboy’s mother told Hazell.
“You chose to hit my son and his friend and you chose to drive away. You chose to leave my son lying on the ground, critically injured, fighting for his life.”
‘Dangerous, gutless’
Hazell began sobbing as he took to the witness box to read out a letter apologising to his victims, their families, first responders and the community.
“I have been the sole cause of ruining numerous people’s lives, including three young children and their families.
“My actions were nothing but careless, selfish, erratic, dangerous and gutless.”
Offender reminded he is not victim
Hazell said his drug use was a major factor in his poor decisions.
He said he would be taking part in all drug and alcohol programs available to him in jail, and expressed interest to engage in restorative justice.
“I don’t ever want to be the cause of someone else’s pain and suffering ever again,” he said, as sobbing could be heard in the court’s public gallery.
Police at the scene where Tayler Hazell crashed in March, 2025. (ABC News: Emily Anderson)
Hazell also complained to the court about the difficulties of his life in prison, saying:Â
“People don’t like someone who ran over two children … Do you think it’s easy for me?”
Acting Justice John Burns told Hazell he should remember he was not the victim in the case.
Hazell also complained about his treatment at the hands of police.
In a statement released this afternoon, ACT Policing said his treatment was found to be below standards, with a referral made to the professional standards team.
Prosecutor Tamzin Lee urged the court to impose a significant sentence to recognise the harm caused and to keep the community safe.
She said the court could not find Hazell’s guilty pleas were indicative of true remorse and his evidence should be “taken with a grain of salt”.
Age a factor in rehabilitation: defence
Defence solicitor Sam Lynch said Hazell was not disputing the harm caused and accepted that it was “extreme and it continues to be immense and far-reaching”, but said his client wanted to rehabilitate.
“Hope for him must not be lost, he’s only 32,” he said.
Acting Justice John Burns expressed doubt about the driver’s remorse, and said Hazell had an extremely long criminal history and might understand what to tell a court in the circumstances.
“If he’s remorseful, his remorse has come very late in the piece. He didn’t stop the car … and the only reason he did stop was because the car wouldn’t go any further,” the judge said.
Hazell is expected to be sentenced in late March.