A Sydney man has been found not guilty of causing his wife’s death when their buggy overturned on a popular Queensland island.
Robbie Awad was charged over the death of his new bride, 29-year-old Marina Hanna, during their honeymoon on Hamilton Island in June 2022.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Husband found not guilty of causing wife’s death on honeymoon.
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The pair were in a buggy, one of the island’s main modes of transport for tourists, which overturned on Whitsunday Blvd.
Hanna sustained critical injuries and was declared dead at the scene.
The pair had been married in Sydney only 10 days earlier.
In the days after his wife’s death, Awad then 30, said his world had been “shattered”.
“My heart is broken, and my world shattered with the tragic loss of the most beautiful girl in the world … my angel … my saint … my wife Marina Hanna,” he said in a social media post at the time.
Awad had pleaded not guilty to driving without due care and attention, causing death.
He had earlier pleaded guilty to using a mobile phone while driving and not wearing seatbelts.
A hearing which started before Magistrate Kerrie O’Callaghan in Prosperine Magistrate’s Court on Thursday was originally listed to run for four days, but was over in just one.
Awad was visibly distressed when body camera footage from attending police officers was played in court.
He admitted that, moments before the buggy overturned, his wife had asked him to “put the phone down”.
“I’m sorry, I never listened to her, she told me, ‘Put your phone down’, I said, ‘We’re going 5km/h, what’s the worst that can happen?’,” Awad said.
But the magistrate accepted the buggy was faulty and unexpectedly sped up and tipped while Awad was making a U-turn.
“In all of the circumstances that Mr Awad faced in that matter of seconds — I find him not guilty,” O’Callaghan said.