Pedestrian killed and another injured at Terrigal

A man has been charged after a pedestrian was killed and another injured in a crash near a Terrigal restaurant on The Scenic Highway.

Around 7.40pm on August 6, Ms Annabelle Deall and Ms Megan Darling, in company with another friend, were crossing The Scenic Hwy near The Cowrie restaurant, Terrigal, when they were struck by a northbound Mazda RX8. Ms Deall sustained fatal injuries and died at the scene. Ms Darling, who is pregnant, was taken to Gosford Hospital with pelvic injuries where she is understood to be in a stable condition.

The other female pedestrian was not struck by the car and was uninjured. The driver of the vehicle, a 22 year old man, stopped his vehicle further along the road and was located by police shortly after the accident and arrested. The man and his two male passengers were uninjured. He was taken to Gosford Hospital for mandatory blood and urine tests before being taken to Gosford Police Station, where he was charged with dangerous driving occasioning death, negligent driving occasioning death, and not keep left of dividing line. He was granted conditional bail to appear at Gosford Local Court on August 30. The man, who holds a Queensland drivers licence, had his authority to drive in New South Wales suspended. The Scenic Hwy was closed for five hours while offi cers from the Metropolitan Crash Investigation Unit examined the scene.

Member for Robertson, Ms Lucy Wicks, commented on the incident during an interview outside The Cowrie on August 7. Ms Wicks said that the thoughts and prayers of the community were with the families of those involved and that something would be done to see a safer traffi c solution for the area. This incident comes off the back of a fatal vehicle accident at Wamberal just two weeks earlier. Any witnesses who have not yet come forward are urged to contact police.

Media release, Aug 7, 2016 NSW Police Media Transcript, Aug 8, 2016 Tim Sowden, Office of Lucy Wicks MP