shortly after the boys had been run over<\/a>.<\/p>\n\u201cSomething said to me: go to St Eddie\u2019s \u2026 when I got there, it was just carnage,\u201d the father outlined in his victim impact to the ACT Supreme Court on Thursday (19 February), which was read by prosecutor Tazmin Lee.<\/p>\n
He first saw the then-15-year-old victim on the ground.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I got to him, there was no skin on his face,\u201d the statement outlined.<\/p>\n
He used his \u201cweight and the road to stop him from bleeding out\u201d.<\/p>\n
The father saw that his child was also injured, but wouldn\u2019t leave the older boy until someone took his place.<\/p>\n
When he was finally able to go to his son, the father saw that \u201chis fingers were ripped off\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The prosecutor also read the victim impact statement from his son to the court.<\/p>\n
Both boys had been standing on the median strip of Canberra Avenue, waiting to cross the road to get to school, when they were hit.<\/p>\n
The younger boy, who is now 15, outlined how three fingers on his left hand had been degloved when he was hit, and tendons, ligaments and veins had also been snapped in his right hand.<\/p>\n
He had been on the St Edmund\u2019s first-grade rugby team and enjoyed fishing in his downtime.<\/p>\n
Now he cannot do either.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth hands affect what I can do every day,\u201d his statement outlined.<\/p>\n
\u201cI missed out on being a normal teenager \u2026 none of this is my fault, and none of this should have happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both boys\u2019 mothers read their victim impact statements as Hazell faced them in the dock.<\/p>\n
The younger boy\u2019s mother described how her son endured a six-and-a-half-hour surgery on his hand alone, and also suffered a punctured liver, lung, kidney and spleen, five broken ribs and needed 100 stitches in one laceration on his arm.<\/p>\n
\u201c[He was] white as a sheet \u2026 covered in his torn, bloody uniform,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She said that in the past week, her son had learned there was nothing else that could be done to repair his left hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis crime has destroyed our lives,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been 328 days of profound trauma.\u201d<\/p>\n
The mother of the older boy, who was found 31 metres from where the car hit him, said her son\u2019s first surgery lasted eight-and-a-half hours, and he still had ongoing surgeries, physiotherapy, scans and tests.<\/p>\n
Addressing Hazell directly, she told him: \u201cYou chose to hit my son and his friend, and you chose to drive away.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou left him on the ground, fighting for his life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her son also started crying in the gallery as his mother outlined how Hazell\u2019s actions had \u201cpermanently changed\u201d who he was and what his future could hold.<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore [28 March 2025], my son had never even broken a bone,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlmost a full year was taken from my child \u2026 [the] restless fight to push doctors to repair what you broke has been exhausting and heartbreaking as a mother.<\/p>\n
\u201cI need you to hear and hopefully understand the devastation your decisions caused that day.\u201d<\/p>\n
The court also heard the victim impact statement of the father, whose dark green Commodore had been stolen in Sutton by Hazell.<\/p>\n
He had been dropping off two of his children at a daycare, but his eight-year-old daughter was still in the unlocked vehicle when Hazell stole it.<\/p>\n
\u201c[It was] the most harrowing 15 minutes of my, and my then-eight-year-old daughter\u2019s, life,\u201d his impact stated.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis bliss of childhood has been replaced with a tone of anxiety.\u201d<\/p>\n
The court also heard from Hazell, who cried as he apologised to the victims and their families.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have been the sole cause of ruining people\u2019s lives,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom the bottom of my heart \u2026 I\u2019m sorry, I\u2019m so sorry, I\u2019m just sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hazell admitted his drug-taking was always a factor in his lengthy criminal history, and he kept making the wrong decisions because of \u201cmy own issues I haven\u2019t dealt with\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like a piece of shit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking opened him up to cross-examination by Ms Lee, who questioned why the video showed him jumping out of the Commodore before jumping back in to steal it.<\/p>\n
Ms Lee said Hazell knew there was a child in the car when he took it, something he denied.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would not have taken that car if I had known there was a child in the car,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Ms Lee accused Hazell of lying to the court, given the agreed statement of facts (which Hazell had signed) showed he said to the girl, \u201cOh, you\u2019re a girl\u201d, before telling her to get out and \u201crun back to your Dad\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know if I said those words,\u201d Hazell retorted.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hit two children \u2026 my mind was a little bit more on other statements of fact.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also maintained he didn\u2019t know he\u2019d hit the two boys in the first instance.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t 100 per cent sure, it happened so quick.\u201d<\/p>\n
The court also heard that other inmates had targeted Hazell and that he had been using meth while in prison.<\/p>\n
He argued he hadn\u2019t touched drugs \u201cin a few months now\u201d and that \u201cpeople don\u2019t like someone who ran over two children\u201d.<\/p>\n
Hazell was warned by Acting Justice John Burns that \u201cyou are not the victim here\u201d.<\/p>\n
He replied he knew he wasn\u2019t, \u201cbut it\u2019s not easy, mate\u201d.<\/p>\n
Ms Lee submitted that punishment and the community\u2019s safety had to be at the forefront of Acting Justice Burns\u2019s sentencing decision.<\/p>\n
She also questioned whether Hazell\u2019s guilty pleas<\/a> and apology in the court were genuine.<\/p>\n\u201cThe things that this offender says must be taken with a grain of salt,\u201d Ms Lee argued.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour Honour can put little to no weight on when this offender says he is sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n
She also referred to alleged \u201cextra-curial\u201d punishment inflicted on Hazell by police officers, saying it \u201cmust be denounced\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat behaviour does no favours to the victims \u2026 [and] has no place in civilised society,\u201d Ms Lee said.<\/p>\n
![\"Tayler](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Tayler-Hazell-MAYBE-photo-suppliedVic-police-e1745466359395.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Tayler Christian Hazell will be sentenced next month. Photo: Supplied\/Victoria Police.<\/p>\n
His defence lawyer, Sam Lynch from Aboriginal Legal Services, also made a short reference to this but did not go into further detail.<\/p>\n
Mr Lynch said Hazell knew \u201che\u2019s in trouble\u201d and that imprisonment was inevitable, but argued his client was remorseful.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has been around the block many times \u2026 he knows what needs to be said,\u201d Acting Justice Burns retorted.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s an inherently dishonest man.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Lynch said Hazell could still be remorseful despite his history.<\/p>\n
He asked the judge to consider a non-parole period that would give his client hope for the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cHope should not be lost, he\u2019s only 32,\u201d Mr Lynch said.<\/p>\n
\u201c[I ask for a period] that is not crushing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Acting Justice Burns will hand down Hazell\u2019s sentence on 27 March at 11:30 am.<\/p>\n
In regards to the allegations of \u201cextra-curial\u201d punishment inflicted on Hazell by police officers, an AFP spokesperson said the organisation\u2019s professional standards had launched an investigation.<\/p>\n
\u201cTheir inquiries determined conduct was in breach of AFP\u2019s professional standards,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAppropriate sanctions will be applied; however, this matter remains ongoing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tayler Hazell stole this Commodore in Sutton before dangerously driving through NSW and ACT, hitting two St Edmund\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":490185,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-490184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490184","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=490184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490184\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/490185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=490184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=490184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=490184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"crashed](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/IMG_9443-1200x900.jpg\")
<\/p>\n