Road rage victim’s ashes in court as family speaks
Tom Wark |
Stephanie Grech was hard at work when a radio report of a fatal road rage incident caught her attention.
The police employee stopped to check the details of the vehicles involved.
“It’s my baby brother, it’s Rhyce,” she recalls crying out after seeing details of her brother’s ute.
“I rang mum on the phone … ‘I think Rhyce is dead.'”
Rhyce Harding was 27 when he was killed in an altercation on his drive to work in Sydney’s outskirts in June 2024.
His distraught relatives relayed their grief to the young landscaper’s killer Bradley Wayne Wilkinson on Friday during a sentence hearing in Downing Centre District Court.
Mr Harding’s ashes – brought into the court hearing by his brother Michael Grech – sat beside his four family members in the witness box as each spoke of the incident’s lasting effects.
CCTV played in court showed Wilkinson cutting off Mr Harding after exiting a roundabout in Blackett.
A horn is heard, before Wilkinson refuses to allow Mr Harding to merge and avoid a parked car.
The young landscaper then stepped out of his car to approach Wilkinson’s window.
The Crown said Wilkinson, then 39, pinned the younger man to the outside of the car and drove past several houses before Mr Harding fell under the wheels.
He died of his injuries.
Wilkinson left the area before turning himself in the next day.
“Rhyce would want me to forgive you, but I can’t and I don’t know that I ever will,” Ms Grech said to Wilkinson, who appeared by video link.
Mr Harding’s parents spoke in glowing terms of the compassion and generosity the avid kickboxer showed in his life and the high regard he was held by his friends, family and his gym mates.
“Rhyce was a much-loved member of our club, who will always be remembered for his kindness, humbleness and dedication to his training,” his gym said at the time of his death.
The public gallery in the courtroom was filled with his loved ones in matching T-shirts with a design of his tattoo to commemorate him.
“As a parent, you don’t ever think you’re going to organise your own child’s funeral,” Rhyce’s father, John Harding, said in court.
“Rhyce was the glue that held our mismatched family together.”
Mary Harding recalled how her son would rise at 4.30 in the morning just to make her breakfast.
“There is not enough paper or ink that would fulfil the person he was,” she said.
Wilkinson sat quietly while the statements were read out, occasionally wiping his eyes.
He reconfirmed on Friday his guilty pleas to Mr Harding’s manslaughter and failure to provide necessary assistance, first entered in April in the local court.
Wilkinson’s barrister said there was no evidence his client intended to kill or cause grievous bodily harm to Mr Harding.
Both sides were prevented from making further submissions because material such as a sentencing assessment report and evidence from a psychiatrist were outstanding from the court file.
The sentence hearing will continue on October 30.
AAP
