Fatal crash driver speeding on wrong side of highway


One of the cars burst into flames after the devastating crash. Photo: Nine Network screengrab
A mother and daughter are among four people killed in a fiery crash caused by a speeding SUV that was deliberately driving on the wrong side of a highway, police say.
The grey Toyota RAV4 collided with a taxi transporting the two women about 3.40am on Monday on the Leach Highway in Perth.
Three people killed in the Camry taxi were its male driver and his two female passengers — a mum and daughter aged 81 and 56 who had reportedly just returned from a holiday.
The fourth person to die was the unidentified male driver of the SUV.
The SUV, which was recorded speeding in the moments before the crash, was engulfed in “fierce” flames that burnt the entire vehicle.
Detective Senior Sergeant Hugh Le Tessier told reporters the crash driver had made a “conscious decision” to drive on the wrong side of the highway, which is separated by a centre wall.
Dashcam footage salvaged from the burning wreck revealed the vehicle’s movements.
“The files on that SD card indicate he was driving through the streets of Belmont and Cloverdale prior to the incident, and he was driving well in excess of the posted speed limit,” said Le Tessier.
The files showed the driver entering the Leach Highway off-ramp on the wrong side of the road in a northerly direction.

Wreckage on Perth’s Leach Highway after the horror crash. Photo: ABC TV
Le Tessier said the accident was “incredibly tragic”.
“Almost the most horrific incident you could attend … as a police officer in a road crash scenario, very confronting.
“There’s four families that have been severely impacted by this, and it’s extremely sad.”
Seven News identified the taxi driver as father-of-three Sendeku Tesema, 58, whose wife was inconsolable.
Their daughter Eyerusalem Sendeku Achamyeleh, 18, said her dad was “the funniest, most caring man” and was “loved by all’.
“Our condolences go out to all of the other families affected,” she told Seven News.

Taxi driver Sendeku Tesema, 58, was killed in the crash. Photo: Facebook
Less than an hour later, a 59-year-old cyclist was also killed in a collision with a truck in the southern Perth suburb of Bibra Lake.
The cyclist died at the scene while the truck driver was uninjured.
WA Police’s major crash unit is investigating both incidents.
Witnesses and drivers with dash cam footage related to the crash should contact Crime Stoppers.
-with AAP