Karen Sweeney, AAP
A driver accused of crashing into two children playing in a laneway behind their grandparents’ home was unfamiliar with driving a car and had only been in Australia for six days.
Ngoc Thanh Vo is charged with dangerous driving over a crash in Braybrook, in Melbourne’s west, on Tuesday evening 25 September.
A three-year-old boy suffered minor injuries, while an eight-year-old boy has undergone surgeries for multiple serious injuries after being pinned between two cars.
Vo, who arrived in Australia from Vietnam six days before the incident, allegedly mistook the accelerator for the brake when driving in the laneway behind four townhouses.
Police told Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday Vo was unlicensed and generally unfamiliar with driving a car when he went out on his own for a drive around the block in a Toyota Prado.
CCTV footage allegedly shows Vo return to the laneway where the vehicle suddenly accelerated, striking three parked cars and the two children
The younger boy was hit by one of the parked cars while the older one was pinned between the Prado’s bull bar and the back of a second car.
Both he and the car were pushed over a concrete gutter at the end of the laneway, down a grass embankment, across a road and into the fence of a neighbouring property, the court heard.
He remained pinned until emergency services arrived, and has suffered pelvis, leg and femoral artery injuries which have required surgeries, police said.
The court heard Vo was in Australia on a partner visa, living with his wife who supported him in court.
Police have sought 12 weeks to put together a brief of evidence, which is expected to include mechanical reconstruction of the crash and forensic analysis of the boys’ injuries.
Vo, who is on bail, is due back in court on January 31, 2024.
He is also charged with reckless conduct endangering serious injury, unlicensed driving and careless driving.
