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A meth-fuelled rendezvous in the pre-dawn hours at a Dianella car park has culminated in a bitter legal battle, with two unlicensed motorcycle riders suing one another for damages after a ‘catastrophic’ collision.
The two men – who court documents revealed were both high on drugs when they crashed into each other on Alexander Drive on September 12, 2020 – now face a future forever altered: one is a paraplegic, while the other, also seriously injured, seeks compensation from his former mate.
The State Administrative Tribunal in Perth.Credit: Heather McNeill
The case, which places their reckless midnight escapade under the legal spotlight, hinges on the difficult question of who bears the blame for the life-shattering crash.
During a State Administrative Tribunal hearing to assess liability, the reason why Shaun Peter Donaldson and Michael John Nurse were together that night was not fully explained, as the men told the court that they would incriminate themselves if they divulged the truth.
But in her findings, Judge Karen Shepherd said, “that meeting had everything to do with illicit drugs and nothing to do with motorcycles”, adding that the two men were of “dubious moral character”.
Public documents showed that after leaving the Dianella Plaza car park in the early hours of the morning, the men travelled along Alexander Drive towards the freeway and on an approach to a bend the bikes collided and became destabilised, crashing into the guard rail.
Both men were thrown from their motorcycles. Donaldson was thrown over the guardrail “with catastrophic consequences”. He is now a paraplegic.
Nurse was also injured but to a lesser extent.
An off-duty lifeguard was the first person at the scene of the crash.
“Each man has brought a separate action against the other in negligence,” the documents read.
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“Each man asserts that the other rode his motorcycle in a manner that was negligent. Each man pleads contributory negligence in respect of the other. Each man asserts that the negligence of the other caused the injuries to the other.”
Both men gave evidence at trial that the other was at fault. Donaldson claimed that Nurse overtook him and cut him off. Nurse claimed that Donaldson clipped his rear tyre from behind.
Blood tests revealed that both men had methamphetamine in their systems at the time of the crash and were both criminally charged, and later convicted of, driving under the influence of illicit substances.
“Neither man came before the court as a person of prior good character,” Shepherd said.
“Both men have extensive criminal histories, at the time of the accident each man was riding his motorcycle without a valid driver’s licence … it is trite to say that both men have credibility issues.”
Donaldson brought in an accident expert to back up his theory and only agreed to tell the whole truth about his encounter with Nurse in the car park after he was provided with immunity from further prosecution.
“I was the dealer. He was the addict,” he later admitted in court.
Nurse’s evidence included that he lied to hospital staff about being a heroin addict so that he would get stronger pain relief.
His motorcycle had false number plates, he admitted, and he conceded he had a criminal history including armed robbery and multiple offences of fraud.
Shepherd ultimately found in favour of Donaldson, stating that she believed after hearing all of the evidence that Nurse had cut across him on the turn “when it was unsafe to do so”, causing Donaldson to lose control of his bike.
A later hearing will determine the amount in damages that Donaldson will receive as a result of winning the case.
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