Millionaire’s love child behind beachside crash
The love child of late hospitality magnate John Hemmes has admitted to causing a crash in Bondi which left a man in hospital and requiring ongoing medical care.
Edward Cameron entered a plea of guilty to negligent driving occasioning actual bodily harm in Waverley Local Court on Tuesday.
The court heard a second charge of not giving way to another vehicle will be withdrawn by police before the 33-year-old is sentenced next month.
According to the agreed facts, he was driving a grey Subaru Outback through the busy streets of Bondi on the morning of November 11 when he failed to give way to a motorcyclist.
Cameron ran straight into a black scooter while it was moving through the intersection, causing the vehicle and its rider to fall down onto the road.
The victim fractured his wrist and sustained a 10cm graze in the collision. He was rushed to St Vincent’s Hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery.
Surgeons inserted metal pins into his left wrist and he requires ongoing physiotherapy and rehabilitation for his injuries, according to court documents.
The agreed facts reveal the victim was travelling at 30 km/hr when he was hit by Cameron, who was blindly proceeding through the intersection at 10 km/hr.
At the time of the collision, the facts reveal the 33-year-old was a P-plate driver.
Police say he was “adamant” that he was not at fault for the crash and told them the victim had been speeding.
However, Cameron was contradicted by eyewitness accounts and a police assessment of the layout of the intersection.
He will return to court on September 19 to face his fate for negligent driving.
According to his LinkedIn, the Bondi Beach resident is a product designer and recently ran as a candidate for the state election under the umbrella of the Animal Justice Party.
He made headlines last decade during a fierce court battle following the death of his father, John Hemmes, who refused to have a relationship with his son over doubts about his paternity.
Mr Hemmes was 83 years old when he died from cancer in 2015 and left millions of dollars to his children Justin and Bettina.
Cameron took the family to the NSW Supreme Court in a bid to ratify his position in the family, and was awarded $1.75 million after a paternity test proved the relationship.
Documents tendered to the court in 2018 revealed Mr Hemmes had a relationship with Fiona Cameron from 1983 to late 1989, and their son was born months later.
His other son Justin Hemmes runs the successful hospitality business Merivale, which owns more than 50 bars and restaurants on the east coast.
