The man convicted of killing Yalgoo farmer Bill Rowe in Geraldton on Christmas Day in 2007 has died in a car crash.

Mathew Roy McDonald, 31, of Westminster, Perth, was a passenger in a Ford Falcon sedan that went off Roe Highway at Forresfield and crashed into a tree about 7.30am on Saturday.

A St John Ambulance spokeswoman said the driver of the car, a 35-year-old Guildford man, was taken by ambulance to Royal Perth Hospital with suspected head injuries.

He was in intensive care last night in a critical condition.

McDonald spent five years in jail after he was convicted of Mr Rowe’s manslaughter.

The Supreme Court heard that McDonald was drunk at the time when he hit the father of five on the head with a cricket bat, causing him to fall on the bitumen in a Sunset Beach carpark and suffer fatal injuries.

Mr Rowe’s widow Ellen said yesterday that her family would never forget the pain and loss caused by the attack.

“We feel for any family’s loss,” she said.

“We are also saddened that despite support of family, our community and the public safety net, troubled people continue to fall through the cracks.