news, crime

When Mike Hall's bicycle was impaled by a car, the British ultra-endurance cyclist died almost instantly on the side of a road near Canberra. An inquest into Hall's death wrapped up on Wednesday, 18 months after he was killed when a car impaled his bike and left him with fatal head injuries. Hall was running second in the 2017 Indian Pacific Wheel Race, a 5500km event from Fremantle to Sydney. On March 31 he was hit and killed at about 6.22am in darkness on the Monaro Highway, south of Canberra. P-plater Shegu Bobb, 19 at the time, was driving the car at the speed limit of 100km/h and told police he didn't see Hall until it was too late. He was excused from giving evidence at the inquest after being described as "suggestible" in police interviews about the incident. Coroner Bernadette Boss noted English was a second language for Mr Bobb, who was born in Sierra Leone and moved to Australia in 2005. Dr Boss said he was a very vulnerable person who would add little to proceedings. "The quality of his evidence would be very poor," she said. In closing the inquest, Dr Boss paid tribute to the "almost superhuman" abilities of the elite endurance athlete. The three-day hearing heard multiple accounts that Hall was hard to see on the morning he was killed. Senior Constable Craig Slater was one driver who passed Hall only to make out he was a cyclist moments before approaching him. Asked why he didn't stop to tell Hall he was at risk, Sen Const Slater said: "It's a question I ask myself to this day." The court heard Hall was wearing dark clothing, while there were conflicting accounts of the reflective properties of his clothing and equipment. Multiple drivers said they had swerved to avoid Hall, including Joseph Spulak who broke down as he recalled almost hitting the rider. "It could have been me. I could have hit him. I just couldn't believe it," Mr Spulak said. But two said Hall was visible and had reflective material on. His tearful former partner Anna Haslock slammed the police investigation, saying she would consider her legal options. "He was well lit and riding safely," Ms Haslock told reporters outside court. "He had every right to assume that the car approaching him from behind would pass him safely and according to the law." Police re-creations showed his bicycle would have been very difficult to see, while documentary footage of Hall competing disputed those claims. The findings are likely to be handed down early next year. AAP

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