Evidence casts doubt as to who was driving the teenager to his death after the Queensland rodeo?

In an investigation into the death of a 19-year-old woman who died after being thrown from a ute in western Queensland, her boyfriend heard that there were several versions of the events following the fatal accident at the time.

In August 2017, Madeleine Moroni was drinking at the Windowsera Rodeo with Jack Dalton-Agley and other friends before the pair switched to their four-wheel drive.

They were driving to Orell station, the property where Mr Dalton-Agley was working, when Ute veered off the road and rolled over.

Ms Moroni was pulled out of the cabin and pinned under the vehicle. She died at the scene.

A coronial investigation is underway into the circumstances of the girl’s death and accident in Brisbane.

The Central Coroner has been tasked to investigate who was driving the car when it overturned.

different accounts of who was driving

Mr Dalton-Edgley, who has legal representation, has said he was a passenger at the time of the accident.

Sergeant Wade Fraser, involved in the investigation, told the court that it could not be determined which side of the car Ms. Moroni was sitting on at the time.

“I can’t say for sure what seat she was in or not,” he said.

The court heard that the ute had rolled about 1.5 times and Sergeant Fraser said this would likely have moved Ms Moroni “substantially”.

“Once the vehicle rolls over, there is an effect of force on that vehicle and people move around,” he said in interrogation.

The court heard that there was some evidence indicating that Ms. Moroni was not wearing a seatbelt and was probably thrown through an open driver’s side window, but neither of them were conclusive.

At the time, Mr Dalton-Edgley told police and several others that he was not the driver, but provided different versions of what happened, including that he and Ms Moroni swapped seats during the trip. That, the court heard.

Leading the investigation was the vision of a body-worn camera for questioning a man being interviewed by police.

In the video, the man tells an officer that he spoke with Mr Dalton-Eagle after the accident and that he admitted to being the driver.

‘Help me, the car is over Maddy’

Station owner Helen Collins told the court that at around 2 a.m. on the morning of the accident, Mr. Dalton-Agley had entered her home and woke her up.

“She said, ‘Help me. The car is over Maddy,'” Ms. Collins said.

He declined to tell a friend, who was a police officer, that Mr Dalton-Agley had actually told him: “I turned the car.”

“I can’t remember that he said the pronoun ‘I’,” she said.

Ms Collins acknowledged that she was reluctant to give a statement to investigators at the time and said she did not want any involvement in the investigation.