The private school graduate accused of driving into Newcastle Knights fans, injuring 10 people including young girls, had previously been warned about “hooning” his car along the street outside his $4 million home.
Indika Bambrick Samarasinghe, who graduated from Sydney’s Catholic boys’ school Waverley College last year, was a familiar sight in the quiet, leafy cul-de-sac. Neighbours knew him for his gold BMW, personalised number plate and the roar of its engine.
For almost five years, Indika has lived on one of Randwick’s most picturesque streets in Sydney’s eastern suburbs with his designer-loving mother and younger brother, Cassius.
His mother, Nicola “Nik” Bambrick, works as a service designer for the NSW Government and the Australian Digital Health Agency. In early 2022, she bought the semi-detached four-bedroom property with her sons’ father, Sunil Samarasinghe.
Sunil, who was born in the UK, is Woolworths Group’s Head of Technology. He lives separately in Woollahra, also in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
Posts on social media accounts that have since been deleted appeared to show Indika enjoying a carefree lifestyle, including nights out with friends and overseas holidays with his mother and brother. Their most recent trip was to Japan.
Nicola “Nik” Bambrick is pictured on the leafy eastern suburbs street where neighbours recalled her son Indika “hooning” in his modified BMW before the Newcastle Knights crash
Indika Bambrick Samarasinghe (left) poses with his mother Nik Bambrick (right) and brother Cassius (centre) during a holiday in Japan
Nicola declined to comment, while neighbours said they had “seen and heard” Indika revving the BMW allegedly involved in the crash and had warned him to take care
A friend of Nicola told the Daily Mail: “We don’t want to” comment on the crash
After obtaining his driver’s licence, Indika began driving the 2006 gold BMW convertible, which carried the personalised registration plate “INDIKA” and was usually parked outside the family home.
Several neighbours described the vehicle as “hotted-up” and unusually loud, suggesting it may not have had standard noise-control components such as a muffler or exhaust baffle.
“I told him more than once, after he was hooning up the street and driving fast — in a cul-de-sac, for goodness sake — that there are lots of little babies and dogs living here,” one neighbour told the Daily Mail.
“And he said, ‘Sorry, sorry, sorry.’ He didn’t refuse to listen, and he wasn’t rude or arrogant. He was quite polite, but then he was back at it, speeding in his hotted-up car.”
Another resident said they had not seen Indika speeding along the street. The neighbour described Indika, his mother and his brother as “nice people, good neighbours”, and said Indika was often seen in his school uniform parking the BMW across the road.
A young mother who lives in an apartment building on the street with her husband and sons said she would regularly hear the BMW “going up and down” the road, although she had not heard it for several months.
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Nik Bambrick and Sunil Samarasinghe own the $4 million Randwick home where she lives with her sons
Randwick neighbours were shocked to see reports that Indika’s distinctive gold BMW convertible was allegedly involved in the crash that injured 10 people
Indika is the son of Woolworths Group Head of Technology Sunil Samarasinghe (pictured) and professional service designer Nicola “Nik” Bambrick
Reports stated that Indika’s driver’s licence was suspended in February this year.
Both his mother and father declined to speak with the Mail, with Nicola Bambrick telling us: ‘I have been told not to say anything.’
When the red P-plater was arrested last Saturday and his distinctive vehicle was shown in media coverage, many of his neighbours were in shock.
One said, ‘Kids make mistakes but he’s just ruined his life, at least for the next few years. I’m sorry for the people who were hurt. I feel for all sides in this.’
NSW Police allege Indika was behind the wheel of the gold BMW when he lost control on the morning of October 3 in Newcastle, north of Sydney.
At the time of the incident, crowds of Knights fans had been waving off the footballers in their team bus ahead of the NRL Grand Final at Wallsend, a western suburb of Newcastle, when they were struck.
Emergency services were called to the Newcastle Link Road roundabout on Transfield Avenue at about 9.30am following reports that a vehicle had hit people standing on the pavement after allegedly driving ‘erratically’.
Before the crash, Indika appeared to be living a carefree life as a privileged teen who had only last year been a private schoolboy at Waverley College
Indika’s 2006 gold BMW (above at the Newcastle crash scene) was a familiar sight on the Randwick street where he lives in a $4m house with his mum and brother
Indika was arrested at the scene and taken to hospital for mandatory testing.
Police charged Indika with three counts of dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm, three counts of negligent driving occasioning grievous bodily harm and three counts of causing bodily harm by misconduct in charge of a motor vehicle.
Six of the 10 people injured in the incident have been discharged, but four remain in hospital.
A five-year-old girl and a man, 67, were both critically injured in the crash, but their conditions improved to serious but stable.