A jury has been told a truck driver was fatigued after staying awake until 1.30am looking at internet sites and failed to pay proper attention and it was those factors, not a cough syncope, that caused him to crash into a line of vehicles near Dubbo in 2018, claiming two lives.
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Crown prosecutor Mark Davies delivered his closing address in the District Court of NSW on Monday in the trial of Robert Crockford.
The 52-year-old is accused of dangerous driving that caused the death of Hannah Ferguson, 19, and her boyfriend Reagen Skinner, 21, the grievous bodily harm of three people and the injury of another seven people in vehicles stopped at roadworks on January 16, 2018.
On Monday, the ninth day of the trial, the jury heard the closing submissions of first the Crown, and then the defence.
Mr Davies told the jury Mr Crockford had provided multiple versions of what happened to various people including community members at the scene, first responders, medicos and colleagues in the hours and days after the crash and he called them "lies".
Among them had been that the accelerator stuck and the brakes failed, and that he had a coughing fit and was rendered unconscious, the court heard.
The Crown said there had been evidence the accused had been awake until at least 1.30am on the day of the crash looking at the internet.
Before that he had been kicking back in a spa and before that he had been drinking and before that he had been working all day, Mr Davies said.
It was a case of a man completely disregarding the need to be focused to drive, he said.
The jury was told there was "not a peep" from Mr Crockford about coughing until six hours after the crash, and no mention of passing out until two days later.
The Crown pointed to the evidence of Professor Matthew Naughton, head of respiratory at the Alfred Hospital, who said cough syncope was extremely rare and he had only seen three cases in more than three decades.
His evidence had been that each of those cases had lung damage, cardio issues and was a strong young male, Mr Davies said.
The professor's evidence proved beyond reasonable doubt cough syncope did not and could not have happened in this case, the Crown said.
The expert had said the more likely cause was the accused was fatigued, that he wasn't paying attention, having microsleeps and had not had enough quality sleep because he drank alcohol the night before, the jury was told.
"The defence case is a wreckage of lies, half-truths and red herrings," Mr Davies said.
Barrister Jack Tyler-Stott, counsel for Mr Crockford, said his client had been in the truck with a broken leg.
A lie must be a deliberate statement of mistruth, the jury was told.
What Mr Crockford had said at the scene was a plausible explanation if he did not know what had happened.
He said it was agreed Mr Crockford had accessed his mobile phone for three minutes from 1.25am, but submitted that did not mean he was awake until that time.
There was no evidence of the brakes being used while going over rumble strips, and that was "completely consistent" with Mr Crockford saying he had a "cough syncope or pre-syncope".
A physiotherapist had given evidence of seeing a cough syncope or pre-syncope in the days after the crash, Mr Tyler-Stott said.
The barrister also said there were two doctors who put forward as a possibility that Mr Crockford suffered a cough syncope.
The cough syncope had been reproduced in front of one of them, and he had 28 years clinical experience, the jury was told.
The trial continues.
