Australian driver fined for carrying passenger in vehicle tray — ABC News Australia

In Burnie, Australia, 46-year-old Andrew John Hilfenhaus was found guilty of driving a vehicle with a passenger in a part of the vehicle not primarily designed for carrying passengers. The court fined him $438.75 and imposed three demerit points, ABC News Australia reports.

Footballer's death circumstances

In July, coroner Leigh Mackey found that 21-year-old Brady James Hubbard died on June 28, 2023, from a head injury sustained four days earlier. He fell from the tray of Hilfenhaus's pickup truck near the West Ulverstone football club.

During a 2025 coronial inquest, Mackey found that Hubbard and the driver's son, Cameron Hilfenhaus, were standing in the tray when the elder Hilfenhaus performed a maneuver involving wheelspin and skidding. Hubbard fell onto the driveway and sustained a traumatic brain injury.

According to the coroner's findings, after the fall the men called club coach Anthony Sharman to examine Hubbard, who, she said, was clearly in a serious condition. Despite this, no one called an ambulance. Mackey noted that they may have feared legal trouble for Andrew Hilfenhaus, who had consumed alcohol, and likely sought to conceal the circumstances of the incident and their role in it.

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Treatment and other sentences

About 24 hours after the fall, Hubbard went to North West Regional Hospital in Burnie because of an increasingly severe headache. He denied having a head injury and did not tell either his family or medical staff about falling from the vehicle. The following morning, his condition worsened, and he was taken to Royal Hobart Hospital, where he died two days later.

The coroner stressed that the standard of proof in a coronial inquest is lower than in criminal cases. Hilfenhaus pleaded guilty to breaching passenger transport rules, which was consistent with his statement to police that he was driving the vehicle while Hubbard and Cameron Hilfenhaus were in the tray.

Separately, Magistrate Katie Edwards sentenced Hilfenhaus to seven months in prison for a number of offences involving drugs, alcohol and driving that were unrelated to Hubbard's death. After his release, he will also be banned from driving for 30 months.