Mohammad Ali Abdulamir, 31, of Shepparton, was committed in the Shepparton Magistrates’ Court to stand trial in the County Court on charges of reckless conduct endangering life and reckless conduct endangering serious injury.
He has pleaded not guilty to both charges.
Two other charges of negligently causing serious injury and perjury were dismissed by the magistrate, as she said there was not enough evidence for a jury to convict him on.
Mr Abdulamir was a traffic controller in the race that was part of the 2023 AusCycling Masters and Junior Road Cycling Championships, which were being held on the roads around Dookie on September 21, 2023.
The court heard about the crash on Dookie-Nalinga Rd at Dookie where cyclist Rhianon Carey-Norton collided with the front of a truck that was on the closed road during a cycling race.
She was competing in a 15km time trial event at the time, with cyclists being released from the starting line one minute apart.
Mr Abdulamir was a traffic controller at GAME Traffic and Contracting and was located at the intersection of New Dookie Rd and Dookie-Nalinga Rd where the crash occurred.
Mr Abdulamir stopped a truck driver who was driving a semi-trailer with large agricultural machinery at the roadblock and told him he would have to do a U-turn.
The prosecutor alleged that when the driver said it was not possible, Mr Abdulamir waved the truck into the intersection, where Ms Carey-Norton came down a hill and crashed into the front of it about 10 seconds later.
Ms Carey-Norton is now a paraplegic from the injuries she received in the crash.
In handing down her decision on Friday, January 31, magistrate Amina Bhai acknowledged Ms Carey-Norton’s injuries were “catastrophic”.
Ms Bhai said Mr Abdulamir repeatedly told truck driver John Wheldon he could not enter the course when he came to the roadblock.
Dashcam footage from the truck showed Mr Abdulamir “gesturing twice with his left arm” to the driver before he turned on to the closed road, but Ms Bhai said there was no evidence Mr Adbulamir verbally directed the truck driver on to the road.
Ms Bhai said Mr Wheldon gave evidence at the committal hearing that when he drove on to the road he couldn’t remember what Mr Abdulamir was doing, and that Mr Abdulamir’s actions “had nothing to do with” why he entered the road.
As such, Ms Bhai ruled that there was insufficient weight for the negligently causing serious injury charge and dismissed it.
She committed him on the charges of reckless conduct endangering life and reckless conduct endangering serious injury, saying a reasonable person would know that guiding a truck on to the closed road during a cycling race would put a person in danger of death or serious injury.
Mr Abdulamir will next appear in court at the Melbourne County Court for a directions hearing on February 28.
His bail was extended until that time.
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