VICTORIA
Mildura grieves: Accused driver hangs his head low
THOMAS Graham Towle slumped forward in the dock of the Mildura Magistrates' Court, his face cast downwards, his tousled, brown-haired head buried deep in his hands.
He didn't look up once during the seven-minute hearing yesterday morning. Occasionally he rubbed his eyes, as if in disbelief.
Here he was, charged with six counts of culpable driving causing death, four charges of negligently causing serious injury, one charge of failing to stop and one charge of failing to render assistance after an accident.
Culpable driving causing death is the most serious driving charge in Victoria.
It carries a maximum penalty of 20 years' jail.
Mr Towle wore a two-tone, light-blue and dark-blue top with a logo on the left sleeve, the same top he threw over his head to try to avoid being photographed as he was led out of the police lock-up just before 9.30am.
The lock-up, with its iron-barred windows and razor-wired roof, is behind Mildura's police station on a laneway that runs behind the town hall.
Mr Towle emerged from locked, wire-mesh gates to move quickly into the back of a police divisional van under close guard.
The van drove down the laneway about 150m to a secure back entrance to the Mildura Courts Building.
Security was the watchword yesterday morning in Mildura, a city both shocked and angry.
At 9.45am everyone entering the modern court building on Deakin Ave was asked to empty their pockets, then searched thoroughly by police using metal scanners.
Inside Court No. 1, a police sergeant recorded everybody's name and address in his official notebook and asked the reason for their attendance.
Court No. 1 is stylishly modern. With a desert climate outside, it is decorated in cool, oasis colours of lime-green walls and olive-green carpet and furniture with light wood panelling.
Senior uniformed police, including Acting Insp Mick Talbot, of the major collision investigation unit, were scattered throughout the small courtroom before magistrate John Dugdale, wearing a dark grey suit and a striped tie, took his seat on the bench at 10am.
The magistrate began reading attentively from a computer screen on his desk.
Mr Towle had already been led into the dock just before the magistrate arrived. He sat, slumped forward, almost as if he was trying to hide under the wooden front of the enclosure, as the hearing got under way.
In front of him at the table for counsel were the duty solicitor Hugh Middleton in a dark suit and the police prosecutor Sgt Tim Edgeworth, a big man with a big moustache.
Sgt Edgeworth explained to the magistrate that one of the original charges against Mr Towle had been withdrawn but another had been substituted.
The magistrate took a note. Then he said: "Remanded to this court, 26th of June, in custody, there being no bail application."
Mr Towle stood up and, still with head down, almost rushed from the courtroom out from the dock and behind a door, quickly locked behind him by his guards.
Outside the court, there were noisy exchanges and scuffles with news cameramen as a group of Mr Towle's friends and relatives left the building.
Mr Towle's mother, Jill Wilson, was among the crowd. She seemed in shock.
"I'll say it over and over again -- if I could die and bring them back to life I would," she said.
"I am so sorry. I am so sorry."
In the shadow of the courthouse Acting Insp Talbot said: "This is the worst single incident involving fatalities since 1993, when 10 people were killed in a bus crash at Wangaratta.
"Eight investigators have come from Melbourne to join us here.
"There is a lot of work to be done, a lot of witnesses among the kids to be talked to.
"Basically we start at the scene of the crash and then work backwards."
He said counsellors were helping ambulance crews and police officers on duty on Saturday night: those who had to attend the horrific scene of carnage on that lonely stretch of road that runs between vineyards and olive trees near a hamlet called Cardross.
Six teenagers were killed in a horrific road accident near Mildura in north-western Victoria, Australia late at night on February 18. 

Cassandra Manners, aged 16, Stevie-Lee Weight, 15, Cory Dowling, 16, Shane Hirst, 16, and his sister, Abby Hirst, 17, died at the scene. Josephine Calvi, 16, was flown to the Royal Adelaide Hospital, where she later died of head injuries. Seven other teenagers were injured, including 15-year-old Marco Medici who is now in a stable but critical condition in The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne.

The accident occurred after the teenagers left a 16th birthday party and walked along Myall Road, Cardross, south-east of Mildura. A car allegedly came speeding around a bend, hit the gravel on the side of the road, lost control and struck the group. The alleged driver, later identified as 34-year-old Thomas Graham Towle, fled the scene on foot, leaving his 10-year-old daughter and four-year-old son in the car. Towle was later arrested by police in Redcliffs. He was taken to Mildura police station for questioning.

Towle has been charged with six charges of culpable driving causing death, four charges of negligently causing serious injury, one charge of failing to stop and one charge of failing to render assistance after an accident. Towle faced Mildura Magistrates' Court on February 20. Magistrate John Dugdale remanded him into custody to reappear before the court on June 26.

Meanwhile, the town of Mildura and surrounding areas is in deep mourning. Premier Steve Bracks said the State Government will provide $AU40,000 for counselling and support services.

Around 3,000 people attended the funeral for Josephine Calvi today. Funeral services for the other five teenagers were held last week.