{"id":330073,"date":"2025-12-05T20:13:31","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T20:13:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/330073\/"},"modified":"2025-12-05T20:13:31","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T20:13:31","slug":"unlicensed-driver-hears-impact-of-single-vehicle-crash-that-killed-three-friends-near-tarago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/330073\/","title":{"rendered":"Unlicensed driver hears impact of single-vehicle crash that killed three friends near Tarago"},"content":{"rendered":"

The young, drug-influenced and unlicensed driver in a crash that claimed the lives of three of his friends has sobbed in court as he heard the impact of his actions.<\/p>\n

Lachlan Anthony Stuckey, 23, had pleaded guilty to dangerous driving occasioning death and driving with a suspended licence following the crash in July 2024 near Tarago in rural New South Wales.<\/p>\n

\"Stuffed<\/p>\n

Charlie Quinn, 18, Brooke Sorlie, 21, and Aaron French, 21, died at the scene of the crash at the intersection of Bungendore and Collector roads. (ABC News: Monte Bovill)<\/p>\n

Stuckey, who was 21 at the time, his 18-year-old girlfriend Charlie Quinn, and Brooke Sorlie and Aaron French, both 21, were travelling back home to the Shoalhaven area after a weekend in Canberra when Stuckey lost control.<\/p>\n

The three died at the scene while Stuckey managed to get out of the car<\/a> with non-life-threatening injuries.<\/p>\n

Brother completely lost after sister’s death<\/p>\n

During his sentencing hearing in the Goulburn District Court, several of Ms Quinn’s family members delivered victim impact statements.<\/p>\n

Her brother, Henry Quinn, told the court he felt “completely lost” following the death of his “only sister” and “best friend”.<\/p>\n

“I don’t feel like I have any one to talk to like I did with Charlie,” he said.<\/p>\n

“She was so excited about her new job and was looking forward to her future.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Charlie Quinn’s brother, father and mother delivered victim impact statements to the Goulburn District Court. (ABC News: Monte Bovill)<\/p>\n

“I don’t have the motivation to do the things I love anymore.”<\/p>\n

He said he trusted Stuckey to keep his sister safe, and that he could never forgive him.<\/p>\n

‘There is a sadness I can’t get rid of’<\/p>\n

Scott Quinn, Ms Quinn’s father, said his daughter was the “glue” to his family.<\/p>\n

“My house is quiet now and there is a sadness I can’t get rid of,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I miss her strength she gave me \u2026 I miss the big hugs I would get out of the blue \u2026 I hold on to that memory.”<\/p>\n

Mr Quinn told the court Stuckey had “shown no remorse”.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Charlie Quinn’s family told the court they were devastated they were denied the chance to see her body because of her extensive injuries.\u00a0 (ABC News: Monte Bovill)<\/p>\n

Her mother, Ricky, told the court that “not a day has gone by in the last 495 days that I haven’t cried”.<\/p>\n

“I refuse to call it an accident, because an accident isn’t preventable,” she said.<\/p>\n

The court also heard victim impact statements from Ms Quinn’s grandparents and best friend, as well as a member of the public who was one of the first at the scene.<\/p>\n

The family also expressed their devastation that they were denied a chance to see Ms Quinn’s body due to the extent of her injuries.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Lachlan Stuckey was supported by several family members and friends in court. (ABC News: Monte Bovill)<\/p>\n

Stuckey sobbed with his head bowed as the statements were read out.<\/p>\n

He was supported in court by several family and friends.<\/p>\n

Stuckey was driving within speed limit: lawyer<\/p>\n

Stuckey’s lawyer Eugene Renard said his client had been diagnosed with PTSD following the crash and had since discovered he had undiagnosed ADHD at the time of the crash.<\/p>\n

Mr Renard argued Stuckey’s ADHD was a factor in him making a “very serious misjudgement”.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Stuckey’s lawyer Eugene Renard told the court the main cause of the crash was his client’s fatigue, not erratic driving. (ABC News: Monte Bovill)<\/p>\n

While the court heard Stuckey had MDMA in his system, Mr Renard argued the primary cause of the crash was his client’s fatigue and that he had fallen asleep at the wheel.<\/p>\n

“There does not appear to be, in the lead up to fatal collision, any course of erratic driving,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Mr Stuckey was travelling in the speed limit, or very close to it.”<\/p>\n

Letters of remorse to victims’ families questioned<\/p>\n

The court heard Stuckey had sent letters to the families of the victims expressing his remorse.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

NSW South Coast 21-year-olds Aaron French and Brooke Sorlie died at the scene. (ABC News: Monte Bovill)<\/p>\n

Judge John Pickering questioned why each of the letters seemed very similar to each other, given the victims were three human beings that Stuckey had differing relationships with.<\/p>\n

“I am not going to pretend that typing a document, and not giving it orally here in court, has the same meaning,” Judge Pickering said.<\/p>\n

“I realise remorse outside of the legal proceedings is more complex \u2026 but often if you don’t express that remorse immediately, no one is going to believe you.”<\/p>\n

Mr Renard insisted his client was “genuinely remorseful” but noted “nothing he can say can cure the hurt that they have experienced”.<\/p>\n

Stuckey will be sentenced on Monday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The young, drug-influenced and unlicensed driver in a crash that claimed the lives of three of his friends…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":330074,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[184704,2666,184703,184709,2667,184706,184702,22678,1108,1154,2479,1300,23817,11224,50031,43,184701,44068,322,2289,2668,184705,44,181131,2733,44600,184707,184708,46104,184700,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-330073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-aaron-french","tag-act","tag-brooke-sorlie","tag-bungendore","tag-canberra","tag-causing","tag-charlie-quinn","tag-collector","tag-court","tag-crash","tag-dangerous","tag-death","tag-driving","tag-fatal","tag-goulburn","tag-headlines","tag-lachlan-stuckey","tag-licence","tag-local","tag-local-news","tag-local-stories","tag-negligent","tag-news","tag-nowra","tag-nsw","tag-sentence","tag-shoalhaven","tag-south-coast","tag-suspended","tag-tarago","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=330073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330073\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/330074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=330073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=330073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}