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A serious hypoglycemic attack led to a man losing consciousness while driving his white BMW SUV, resulting in a tragic accident outside the Royal Daylesford Hotel at approximately 6:07 p.m. on November 5, 2023.
The driver, Swale, veered onto a curb and crashed into patrons enjoying their time in the pub’s beer garden.
The devastating incident claimed the lives of Pratibha Sharma, 44, her 9-year-old daughter Anvi, her partner Jatin Kumar, 30, their friend Vivek Bhatia, 38, and Bhatia’s 11-year-old son Vihaan. Additionally, six other individuals sustained injuries.
Swale faced 14 charges, which included five counts of culpable driving resulting in death. However, a magistrate dismissed all charges in September 2024, concluding that Swale’s actions were involuntary due to his condition.
Coroner Dimitra Dubrow has launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the crash, focusing on Swale’s diabetic management practices, as part of a comprehensive nine-day inquest.
Counsel assisting Rishi Nathwani KC described the crash as deeply distressing and tragic.
“It is hoped that an incident such as this does not occur again,” he told the court.
He said the coroner will investigate awareness, education and management of diabetic drivers, as well as laws around outdoor dining.
Swale had objected to giving evidence to the inquest but was compelled by the coroner to do so.
He told the court today the only time he recalled engaging in a diabetes training course was in 1994, when he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.
He was shown documents Nathwani said were sent to him, including emails from his endocrinologist and a brochure from VicRoads, in the years before the crash, on driving and diabetes.
“Not formal training, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t have conversations with Dr Cohen (his endocrinologist),” he told the court.
Swale said he was not aware he was under any obligation to register he was a diabetic with VicRoads until June 2021, and said he could not remember reading the brochure they sent him.
He said he had not told RACV, his insurance provider, that he had diabetes in the 30 years he was with them.
Swale said he did not drive anymore, but at the time he had a general rule that he could drive if his fasting blood glucose levels were at 8mmol/L, and at 5mmol/L he would normally have something to eat.
He said he always carried jellybeans and other snacks in his car in case his sugar dropped, and fruit and nuts were inside his car on the day of the crash.
However, he did not eat anything as his levels dropped to 2.9mmol/L in the hour before the crash.
“At that stage I was feeling hypoglycaemic and unable to make rational decisions,” Swale said.
He was leaving the town of Clunes after spending the weekend at a clay shooting event and pulled over in Daylesford to go into the Winespeake Cellar + Deli to get some food.
Swale accepted he must have checked his blood glucose monitoring device about this time, at 5.17pm, as records showed he did, and it had dropped to 2.9mmol/L.
He felt “dark” and “vague” as he entered the deli but was told he couldn’t get a table, and the last thing he remembered was leaving the store, he said.
Asked whether he tried to get takeaway food, Swale said “no because I was in a very, very hypoglycaemic state at the time”.
The court was told his device’s alarm went off 10 times to indicate he had low glucose, but Swale said he did not hear it.
After leaving the deli, the next thing he said he remembered was speaking to paramedics at the scene.