Lynwood crash: Rideshare driver charged after crash killed baby, seriously injured devastated mum and sibling

The rideshare driver in a horror car crash that killed a baby girl in Perth’s southeast has been charged with serious offences after being berated at the scene by the infant’s devastated mother. The 35-year-old man walked away with only minor injuries after smashing his silver Toyota Kluger through a bus stop bench seat then slamming into a tree on Nicholson Road in Lynwood about 3.17am on Saturday. The 32-year-old mother ran across the road to a nearby house holding the seven-month-old, crying out as she desperately sought help. Jacobus Aukema said he was half asleep inside when he heard the woman’s distress. “She was screaming and was having a go, I think, at the Uber driver,” Mr Aukema said. There were frantic scenes as neighbours awoken by the crash ran to assist while the mother could be heard shouting “my baby’s not breathing”. “It was shocking. Yeah, it was quite distressing,” Mr Aukema said. He said his partner called her daughter, who is a nurse, to drive over from neighbouring Beckenham before paramedics arrived. The mother and infant were rushed with serious injuries to Fiona Stanley Hospital, where it was later confirmed the baby had died. The woman’s three-year-old daughter, believed to have been sitting in a rear seat, was also seriously injured and taken separately to Perth Children’s Hospital, where she was stable on Sunday afternoon. The mother was discharged from FSH on Saturday afternoon. While floral tributes continued to be placed at the scene, Mr Aukema and other neighbours questioned how the crash happened, on a straight stretch of road with a 60km/h speed limit and no traffic. Mr Aukema said it appeared the mother was holding the baby in the front seat and the air bag deployed. Under WA laws, taxis and rideshare vehicles are exempt from requiring children aged between one and seven to be secured in a child car restraint. A child aged less than one year can be held on the lap of a parent or caregiver aged 16 years or over but cannot share the seatbelt. Premier Roger Cook paid tribute to the baby and said it was a reminder to take care. “Laws are already in place to make sure that we can protect our young travellers, and that goes for Uber drivers as much as it goes for taxi drivers and other people who are in charge of a vehicle,” Mr Cook told reporters. “This is an incredibly tragic event, and it goes once again ... to just remind us how fragile life is and that we cannot take safety for granted when it comes to stepping into a vehicle. “So please, everyone, let’s use this as a reminder to take care. “And our hearts go out to everyone impacted.” The driver, from Caversham, faces one count of dangerous driving occasioning death and two counts of dangerous driving occasioning bodily harm. He is due before Armadale Magistrates Court on April 20.