{"id":531251,"date":"2026-03-10T15:07:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T15:07:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/531251\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T15:07:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T15:07:13","slug":"driver-in-fatal-daylesford-crash-questioned-over-diabetes-management","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/531251\/","title":{"rendered":"Driver in fatal Daylesford crash questioned over diabetes management"},"content":{"rendered":"

A man who lost control of his vehicle before veering into two families and killing five people has apologised to those impacted by the crash, calling it an “incomprehensible tragedy”.\u00a0<\/p>\n

William Herbert Swale, 69, who lives with type 1 diabetes, had a severe hypoglycaemic episode in November 2023 and crashed into two families while they dined outside The Royal Daylesford Hotel in the central Victorian town of Daylesford.<\/p>\n

Pratibha Sharma, 44, her daughter Anvi, nine, partner Jatin Kumar, 30, their friend Vivek Bhatia, 38, and his son Vihaan, 11, were killed while six others were injured.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, 69-year-old William Swale fronted the Coroners Court of Victoria and was questioned over the crash, his medical history, and his history of diabetes education.<\/p>\n

\"two<\/p>\n

Pratibha Sharma, 44, her daughter Anvi, nine, partner Jatin Kumar, 30, their friend Vivek Bhatia, 38, and his son Vihaan, 11, were all killed and six others were injured. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

In January this year, a Victorian court ruled Mr Swale would be compelled to give evidence during this week’s inquiry after he made an application to be excused on the grounds of potentially self-incriminating.<\/p>\n

Coroner Dimitria Dubrow issued him a certificate, meaning any evidence he provides at the inquest cannot be used in any future legal proceedings.<\/p>\n

Mr Swale was initially charged with multiple driving offences but the charges were dropped after a Ballarat magistrate found insufficient evidence to convict.<\/a><\/p>\n

The coronial inquiry will examine the circumstances of the five deaths, along with education, guidelines, and public awareness for diabetic drivers, and outdoor dining and road safety.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mr Swale told the court he undertook a multi-day educational course on type 1 diabetes when he was first diagnosed in 1994.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Under questions from senior lawyer Rishi Nathwani, Mr Swale told the court he had not declared to VicRoads that he was diabetic, as was required.<\/p>\n

“So, you no longer drive?” Mr Nathwani asked today.<\/p>\n

“Is that a serious question? No, I don\u2019t drive anymore,” responded Mr Swale.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Five people died after a white BMW drove through an outdoor eating area. (ABC News: Kristofor Lawson)<\/p>\n

Mr Swale recorded his type 1 diabetes through a continuous blood monitor which reported through an application on his phone called Libre Sensor.<\/p>\n

The court heard Mr Swale last had a severe hypoglycaemic event 20 years ago in 2003, which was quickly managed with the help of medical professionals.<\/p>\n

The court heard today Mr Swale spent the weekend prior to the crash on November 5, 2023, at a clay shooting event in the central Victorian town of Clunes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mr Swale injected himself with a dose of insulin before he was due to eat a meal; however, he could not access food and instead planned to stop for a meal in Daylesford on his way home.<\/p>\n

The Mount Macedon man said he would not consider it safe to drive below a reading of 8.0 mmo\/L.<\/p>\n

On a historical reading of his blood glucose from November 5, the court could see Mr Swale’s reading dipped as low as 2.9 mmo\/L prior to the crash.<\/p>\n

Mr Swale attempted to buy food from a restaurant in Daylesford when his blood sugar dropped but was turned away as they were fully booked.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mr Swale said he did not remember anything after leaving the restaurant.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The collision occurred shortly after.<\/p>\n

\"Three<\/p>\n

Large rocks were placed outside the Daylesford hotel as bollards. (
\n ABC News: Rochelle Kirkham
\n )<\/p>\n

Blood monitoring limitations<\/p>\n

An analysis of Mr Swale’s phone found that between 5:18pm and 6:07pm, 10 low blood glucose alarms went off from the monitoring application.<\/p>\n

The court heard Mr Swale repeatedly denied hearing any alarms while he was driving.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mr Swale described how Libre Sensor alarms could be “overridden” by car applications, including bluetooth.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He told the court he had not tested the monitoring alarms through the car prior to the incident.<\/p>\n

“The glucose alarm won’t work if you don’t have signal,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I never detected an alarm \u2026 through my car. Unfortunately, I assumed that was because I was very careful [with my blood glucose] when I was driving.”<\/p>\n

A bag of fruit and nuts was found in Mr Swale’s car after the crash.<\/p>\n

When asked why he had not eaten some of the snack when he experienced hypoglycaemic symptoms, including his vision going “dark”, Mr Swale said, “I guess it was because I was going [to the restaurant].”<\/p>\n

“But also I was severely hypoglycaemic and not thinking rationally,” he said.\"reisdent<\/p>\n

“Tribute trees” were erected after the Daylesford crash in memory of those who died. (ABC Ballarat: Lexie Jeuniewic)<\/p>\n

It was today put to Mr Swale that in 2016, his endocrinologist, Matthew Cohen, recommended he undergo a refresher course in relation to diabetes and driving.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mr Swale told the court he could not recall the conversation.<\/p>\n

Dr Cohen will be the next witness to give evidence in the inquiry, which continues tomorrow.<\/p>\n

Mr Swale took the opportunity while on the stand to apologise to those impacted by the crash.<\/p>\n

“This has been an incomprehensible tragedy, a catastrophe, you could say a series of unfortunate events,” Mr Swale said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We can’t turn back time, and sometimes I even think that time won’t heal. But it is gradually.<\/p>\n

“It has been rather traumatising to me as well. I think of them from the moment I wake up to the moment I go to sleep. They are always with me.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A man who lost control of his vehicle before veering into two families and killing five people has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":531252,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[38880,1108,263848,1835,43,44,1836,41,39,42,40,263847],"class_list":["post-531251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-coroners-court","tag-court","tag-daylesford-collision","tag-diabetes","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-public-health","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-william-swale"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531251","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=531251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531251\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/531252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=531251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=531251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=531251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}