Elderly man walks free after killing cyclist in hit and run accident
An elderly man who admitted killing a cyclist with his car in WA, but claimed he did not remember the incident because of a medical condition, has been acquitted.
Keith Michael Osman was driving to a library on Old Coast Road in Mandurah on March 29, 2016 when he hit 70-year-old Gabriele Schiller-Brett and dragged her and the bike under his car.
Mr Osman had been on trial in the WA District Court charged with dangerous driving occasioning death, failing to stop and render assistance, and failing to report the crash to police, but was found not guilty of all charges by a jury on Thursday.
Mr Osman's lawyer successfully claimed that his mind was in an "automatic state" at the time of the crash and that he had no idea he had hit the woman.
Gabriele Schiller-Brett was riding her bike through a roundabout when Mr Osman failed to give way and ploughed into her, then kept driving.
He spent time at the library and fast food outlet, then police arrested him when he returned to his Mandurah home.
The diabetic said he had no memory of the crash and his lawyer argued he'd been having a hypoglycaemic episode, meaning his mind wasn't connected to his body.
It took a jury 3 hours to clear him and let him walk free.
