Mandurah boat crash charges against John Burdon dropped over deaths of Debbie Burdon, Kylie Bazzo
In short:
John Burdon had been due to stand trial for the deaths of his wife Debbie and her friend, Kylie Bazzo, in a boat crash in the Mandurah Estuary in January 2023.
The dropping of the charges follows an account from an eyewitness who said Mr Burdon was not behind the wheel of the boat.
He had pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and was due to stand trial in the Supreme Court.
The lawyer of a man accused of killing his wife and her best friend in a boat crash almost two years ago has accused police of "not making the appropriate inquiries" after being told he was not the skipper.
Four days before the start of his scheduled trial, prosecutors dropped manslaughter charges against John Burdon, 59, over the crash that killed the two women, one of them the mother of West Coast Eagles footballer Rhett Bazzo.
Mr Burdon was not required to attend the Supreme Court on Thursday afternoon where prosecutors told Justice Stephen Lemonis it had been determined there were no reasonable prospects of a conviction.
His lawyer Michael Tudori hit out at police after the charges were dropped, saying his client was "led to believe" he was guilty for almost two years.
Mr Burdon had been due to face a jury trial on Monday accused of killing his 54-year-old wife Debbie and her friend, Kylie Bazzo, on the night of January 21 last year in the Mandurah Estuary.
Ms Burdon died at the scene, but the body of Ms Bazzo was not found until the next night after a search by water police.
Kylie Bazzo, pictured with daughter Kameron and son Rhett, was a former Peel Thunder CEO. (Facebook: Kylie Bazzo )
Mr Burdon was injured in the crash and at his very first court appearance, not long after the crash, was walking with a limp with the help of one crutch and had a leg brace on.
He has been on bail since being charged and formally entered pleas of not guilty in October last year, but if he had been found guilty at trial he faced a maximum life jail term.
A WA Police spokesperson told the ABC they were "reviewing the decision of the [Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions] to discontinue these charges".
Debbie Burdon pictured with her husband John, who had been facing manslaughter charges. (Facebook: Debbie Burdon)
"The investigation into the incident remains ongoing," the spokesperson said.
Doubt over who was driving boat
The dropping of the charges follows an account from an eyewitness who had maintained Mr Burdon was not behind the wheel of the boat.
The eyewitness, Nichole Jones, was on another boat in the estuary with her husband and two friends.
John Burdon arrives at court in February 2023 following the crash. (ABC News: Tabarak Al Jrood)
In an interview with a Perth commercial radio station two days after the crash, she revealed that moments before impact she yelled to the other boat warning its navigation lights were not on, but was sworn at in reply.
She also insisted she witnessed who was driving and that it was not Mr Burdon.
"I saw that visually, he was only a couple of metres away from me when I saw them on all the boat when they were alive," she told Perth radio station 6PR.
Ms Jones said her vessel was the first on the scene and those on board tried to help the crashed boat, but the driver took off.
She said her boat then spent hours searching for Ms Bazzo, who had been thrown from the vessel.
State prosecutor Michael Cvetkoski leaves court after the charges against Mr Burdon were dropped. (ABC News: Grace Burmas)
Prosecutor Michael Cvetkoski revealed that during pre-trial conferences, further information had been provided which meant it was possible Mr Burdon was not driving the boat and it therefore could not be proven beyond reasonable doubt he was responsible.
Accused 'led to believe' he was guilty
Speaking outside court, Mr Burdon's lawyer Mr Tudori said he had endured a "horrible" ordeal, being "led to believe" he was guilty of killing his wife and her best friend when he had no recollection of the incident.
"John Burdon is not [in court] today because he's so overcome and stricken with grief, that for the last two years it's been alleged — and he's [been] led to believe to a certain extent — that he was the driver of the boat that killed his wife and his wife's best friend," Mr Tudori said.
Defence lawyer Michael Tudori speaking to the media outside court. (ABC News: Grace Burmas)
"What has come about is that there were four independent witnesses, four people on a pontoon boat, seconds before the impact that caused the two females to become deceased, who witnessed another person, not John Burdon, driving the boat.
"They identified a person who was in the boat ... and that person was not John Burdon."
Mr Tudori said the information was given to police, "yet the police did not want to follow that up".
"They did not make the appropriate inquiries."
"At the time of the accident, John was knocked unconscious, bleeding in the boat and has no recollection of what actually happened," Mr Tudori said.
Family in court
The deaths of the two women sparked an outpouring of community support, with the West Coast Eagles Football Club releasing a statement at the time saying they were devastated by the loss of Ms Bazzo.
In 2000, she became the first female chief executive in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) when she was appointed as head of Peel Thunder.
Her son Rhett was drafted by the Eagles in 2001 with pick 37 in the AFL draft.
West Coast Eagles footballer Rhett Bazzo, whose mother Kylie died in a boat crash in January 2023. (ABC News: Grace Burmas)
Rhett's father Steven, who was a great of the Swan Districts WAFL club, died of cancer in 2015.
Members of Ms Bazzo's family were in court including her son Rhett, but they made no comment as they left.
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