Three men gave shifting and self-serving accounts to hide the truth about how a young footballer was fatally injured at a north-west Tasmania football club, a coroner has found.
Coroner Leigh Mackey said Andrew Hilfenhaus, his son Cameron Hilfenhaus and football trainer Anthony Sharman were “not credible witnesses” whose evidence was “likely motivated by a desire to obfuscate what had happened” to Brady James Hubbard.
Hubbard, 21, from Wynyard, died at the Royal Hobart Hospital on June 28 2023, four days after he was thrown from the back of a ute at the West Ulverstone Football Club.
The coroner found Hubbard had played a senior match for WUFC that afternoon and was socialising in the clubrooms afterwards.
Around 7:18pm he left with the Hilfenhaus men to retrieve a pool cue from Andrew Hilfenhaus’ nearby unit.
Hubbard and Cameron Hilfenhaus rode on the rear of the ute for the short trip.
On the return journey, Andrew Hilfenhaus drove onto a grass strip beside the driveway and performed a burnout to spray dirt at the pair still hanging on at the back.
The rear tyre connected with the bitumen, causing a jolt that dislodged Hubbard.
He fell and struck the left side of his head on the driveway.
The three men gave multiple conflicting versions of what happened in the days that followed, including claims Hubbard was hurt during the football match, injured while wrestling or assaulted at a bar.
“The manner in which Andrew and Cameron Hilfenhaus and Anthony Sharman gave their evidence at inquest was begrudging and terse,” Coroner Mackey said.
Despite Hubbard returning to the clubrooms visibly distressed, no ambulance was called.
The coroner found Andrew Hilfenhaus’ fear of being charged with manslaughter “may have overridden” his concern for Hubbard.
Hubbard did not reach hospital until the following evening when his condition rapidly deteriorated.
He was airlifted to Hobart but declared brain dead two days later.
“Mr Hubbard’s death was entirely preventable and was a loss of a promising young man,” the coroner said.
Andrew Hilfenhaus has pleaded guilty to carrying a passenger on a part of a vehicle not designed for passengers and is due to be sentenced in the Burnie Magistrates Court next month.
