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The victim of an alleged road rage attack was on the phone with his best friend shortly before he died.
Stacey Disbray said she was involved in a telephone conversation with Rhys Harding as he was allegedly dragged 100 meters by the jute along Jersey Road in Blackett at around 8.45am yesterday.
“I had to listen to my best friend die,” she told 9News today.
“He says ‘wait a minute, I’ll be back,'” she said.
“He never came back. I had to listen to my best friend die and all the ambulances, I had to listen to them trying to revive him.”
Disbray recounted the last thing he reportedly said to her.
“He said ‘Wait, he just hit me from behind,'” she said.
“He stopped the car and I heard it stop and I heard the parking brake. For 40 minutes I sat on that call hoping for… not that outcome.”
Court documents say the alleged driver, Bradley Wilkinson, 39, had a teenager in the passenger seat of his vehicle as he sped down Jersey Road, cutting off Harding, who was driving a red Ford Ranger.
Approached by the victim, police allege Wilkinson grabbed Harding’s jumper, dragged him 40 meters and ran over him.
Wilkinson was charged with manslaughter, failing to stop and render aid following a collision with a vehicle causing death, careless driving (causing death) and dangerous driving causing death – dangerous driving.
Wilkinson told police that Harding grabbed him before driving off out of fear for his safety.
Wilkinson continued to work a full shift before parking his vehicle 200 meters from his home in Windsor.
He told police he knew something was up, but thought if it was serious, detectives would have come to his workplace.
In court, Wilkinson’s lawyer, Javid Faiz, questioned whether the most serious charge of manslaughter would eventually be reduced.
This decision will depend on the evidence given by the police and the circumstances surrounding the case.
Speaking to reporters outside Parramatta Local Court, Faiz said it was “too early to say at this stage that the matters are before the court”.
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