The wife of a scientist killed during a horror hit-and-run incident has told the court of the moment she watched the man she loved tossed 20 metres by the drunken father of a former MP.
Kenneth Wayne Grant, 73, is facing prison after he was last year found guilty of drunkenly running over a fellow partygoer following a Christmas function in late 2019.
He was found guilty by a NSW District Court judge of dangerous driving occasion the death of Tony Greenfield, 62, after he had claimed during his trial that he had been sleepwalking at the time of the accident.
The court found that Grant – the father of former NSW police minister Troy Grant – was drunk when he got behind the wheel and ran down Mr Greenfield at Bolwarra, near Maitland, on November 30, 2019.
The court was told that Grant, a former police officer, recorded a blood alcohol reading of 0.194 at Maitland Hospital following his arrest.
Despite efforts to revive him, Mr Greenfield died after being rushed to Newcastle’s John Hunter Hospital.
The court was told that after fatally hitting Mr Greenfield with his Mazda ute, Grant was involved in a police pursuit during which he failed to pull over despite officers activating their lights and sirens.
When he finally came to a stop, Grant’s vehicle was damaged and smoke billowed from one of his rear tyres.
He was found in the front driver’s seat and at the time he did know that he had hit a pedestrian.
Both arresting officers recalled him saying words to the effect of “my son is Troy Grant the police minister and I’m pissed”.
Mr Greenfield’s wife, Nerida xjmtzywGreenfield, gave a heartbreaking victim impact statement and described the horrific moment that she was walking alongside her husband when he was suddenly thrown into the air and killed.
She described how grief had rippled through her family, friends and the scientific community following Mr Greenfield’s death.
Grant, watching on via videolink, closed his eyes and looked at the ground as Ms Greenfield read a powerful victim impact statement to the court.
Ms Greenfield said she continually replayed the incident in her mind and had suffered post-traumatic disorder.
“It will be etched into my brain for the rest of my life,” she told Grant’s sentencing hearing on Friday.
“It starts with a terrible noise so loud that it stops me in my tracks.
“The wind is rushing on both sides of me, it feels like a wind tunnel. It takes a second to realise it’s being caused by a car.
“It skims so close to my right side I can almost feel it.
“At the same time I catch sight of something flying through the air on my left. Airborne, limp like a ragdoll.
“It hits the ground 20 metres in front of me, that’s when I realise it’s Tony. I can’t believe it’s him, but I look behind me and he’s gone.”
Ms Greenfield said she did not think she would be able to enjoy a walk ever again and constantly worried about being hit by passing motorists.
“I am always aware that it could be another driver like him – drunk, out of control and ready to run off the road and kill me,” she said.
She also rebutted claims made by Grant during the trial that they were friends, saying Mr Greenfield “wouldn’t have a clue” who he was and denied having previously met him.
Grant was found guilty of dangerous driving occasioning death, failing to stop and assist and failing to stop during a police pursuit.
Troy Grant said that his father had expressed remorse and a desire to trade his life for Mr Greenfield’s.
He told the court that his father began abusing alcohol in the late 1970s after a traumatic experience when he was held hostage and tortured in the line of duty while trying to apprehend four murderers who had escaped from prison.
“They jumped him and he was kidnapped and tortured and suffered significant physical and mental health issues,” Troy Grant told the court.
“So I saw that change physically as a young child – he had a broken back, they chewed his ear and played Russian roulette with him and threatened to kill him throughout the ordeal.”
Grant’s barrister Phillip Boulten said his client was better off serving his sentence in the community via an intensive corrections order, arguing he would be targeted in jail because his son was a former police minister and he was vulnerable because of Covid.
Grant will be sentenced later this year.
