Fatal car crash charges dropped
The mother of a heavily pregnant teenager killed when her fiance crashed their car is devastated after a charge against the P-plate driver was dropped on Friday.
Shona Leigh Caley, 19, and her unborn baby girl were killed when 18-year-old Alex John Riley allegedly lost control of their Mitsubishi Lancer on a bend on Brookton Highway and hit a tree on February 24 last year.
Ms Caley was seven months pregnant and the couple had just been in Perth celebrating the impending birth of their first daughter at a baby shower with family and friends.
They were returning to their home in Corrigin when the car driven by Mr Riley left the road, rolled several times and crashed into a tree.
Almost three months after the crash, Mr Riley was charged with dangerous driving in circumstances which resulted in a death.
But in Perth Magistrate's Court on Friday, prosecutors discontinued the charge against Mr Riley.
Ms Caley's mother Jen Higgins said she did not understand why Mr Riley was able to get away "scot-free" when the crash had claimed the lives of her daughter and unborn granddaughter.
"All I know is he is getting on with his life," Ms Higgins said.
"He has never said sorry."
Ms Higgins said the past year had been hard. She said the decision by prosecutors to drop the charge had revived the trauma of Ms Caley's death and left the family feeling that they had been denied justice.
"There is not much that we can do but try to put the pieces back together and get on with our lives without Shona," she said. "We have spent the last 12 months trying to repair ourselves and it is not going to happen.
"It would have been her 21st this year, but I don't get to spend her 21st with her. It is every Christmas, it is each Easter and birthdays and Mother's Day. But he gets to spend his with his family."
A statement from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions said that "on the available evidence, the DPP concluded there were no reasonable prospects of conviction".
Mr Riley declined to comment when he left court.
