A 33-year-old pregnant Indian woman, just weeks away from delivering her second child, was killed in a horrific accident in Sydney last week.
Samanvitha Dhareshwar, who was eight months pregnant, was out for an evening walk with her husband and three-year-old son when the tragedy occurred, police said.
The crash happened around 8 pm on George Street in Hornsby.
According to police, a Kia Carnival had slowed down to allow Dhareshwar and her family to cross a footpath when a speeding BMW slammed into it from behind.
The impact pushed the Kia forward, hitting Dhareshwar as she stepped across a car park entrance.
She suffered catastrophic injuries and was rushed to Westmead Hospital, but doctors were unable to save either her or her unborn baby.
The BMW was driven by 19-year-old Aaron Papazoglu, a P-plate driver with a provisional licence.
Police said both the BMW driver and the Kia driver escaped uninjured. It is still unclear whether Dhareshwar’s husband or child were injured.
According to her LinkedIn profile, Dhareshwar was an IT systems analyst specialising in business application support and was working as a test analyst for Alsco uniforms.
Police later arrested Papazoglu at his home in Wahroonga.
He has been charged with dangerous driving occasioning death, negligent driving occasioning death, and causing the loss of a foetus. A magistrate denied him bail, citing the seriousness of the charges.
He is likely to be prosecuted under Zoe’s Law, introduced in New South Wales in 2022, which allows harsher penalties when an unborn child is killed due to dangerous or negligent driving.
Offenders can face up to three additional years in prison beyond the sentence for the underlying crime.
