MARYBOROUGH police have informed the British consulate of the death of a British backpacker near Moliagul on Monday. The 21-year-old man died on Monday, after he was hit by a car travelling along the Dunolly-Moliagul Road shortly after 4pm.He got off a V/Line bus with an Irish friend not long before his death.The female driver of the Holden sedan will not face any charges, police say.Acting Sergeant Stewart Hulls from Maryborough station said he had informed the British consulate about the death and spoken with the man's family.He said the family was arranging flights to Australia.He said police were preparing a report on the man's death for the coroner.Acting Sergeant Hulls said the man and his friend, a 28-year-old Irishman, got off a V/Line service at the Moliagul bus stop.“They both walked along to the side of the road. It’s a very traumatic incident,” he said. “It’s a horror situation, traumatic for everyone involved ... the bus driver, the driver of the car and the family of the deceased man."V/Line has declined to comment on the incident.
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View Larger MapA spokesman for police media said the Irishman has been charged with stealing a motor vehicle.The spokesman said the man stole the vehicle from a Moliagul property soon after his friend was hit by the car.The Irish man pleaded guilty in Maryborough Magistrate's Court yesterday and was fined $1500.The car was declared a write-off after the man drove it through paddocks and fences.A man sleeping in the back of the car woke up during the incident and was later taken to Maryborough police station for questioning. The police spokesman said the passenger was not known to the Irish man and was just sleeping in the back of the car at the time.Witness, local man Darren Ray, said the events unfolded quickly.“The car that hit the man just could not have stopped,” he said.“It had slowed down a bit already, but unfortunately she couldn’t have avoided hitting the man.”Mr Ray alleges he saw the Irishman take his neighbour’s car.“The other man then came tearing out of the driveway,” he said. “He was driving very erratically right through paddocks.”Mr Ray said the two men were ‘‘not in a good state’’ before the incident and were not together when the British man was hit by the car.He said the second man was being sick in a neighbour’s garden when the accident happened.
