Tributes to 28-year-old killed in rideshare crash on way home from birthday night
One of the victims of a horror crash in Sydney was celebrating his 28th birthday watching his favourite band play hours before his life was tragically taken when another car collided with the rideshare car he was travelling in.
Seamus Duignan loved his heavy metal. Videos were taken by the 28-year-old while celebrating his birthday with mates.
Hours later, a speeding driver took his life in a head-on collision at Sans Souci. Police confirmed they had attempted a welfare check on the other driver, who also died in the crash, minutes before the collision, but he fled.
Close friend Jacob Power was meant to be with Duignan to see American band Fear Factory on Friday night but sold his ticket at the last minute.
“We would have been at a pub or a mate’s house at some stupid hour of the morning and it wouldn’t have happened,” he told 9News.
Duignan had been sending the videos to Power throughout the night.
“He was having the time of his life, he’d send me like a million videos,” he said.
“I messaged him at 2am and was like ‘sorry I couldn’t come, it looked like you had a good time, where are you at the moment?’
“It said when I woke up in the morning he had been offline for 12 hours – and I was like, ‘That’s not like him’.”
Duignan was being driven by Shoaib Hussain, a 22-year-old international student from Pakistan working as a rideshare driver.
Naseem Naqvi from Auspak Youth Association described the driver, who was also a disability worker supporting his family back home, as “a very kind person” and “very hardworking”.
The blue Camry they were in was hit by a white Audi driven at high speed by Tamati Gilbert in San Souci in the city’s south, killing them both.
Police had tried to speak to the 42-year-old as part of a mental health welfare check but he took off.
His sister Renata Gilbert posted online: “He was a father, son, brother, partner, uncle and friend to many. You are loved and you are missed.”
Police say Gilbert’s actions on the road were incredibly reckless.
Investigators are now examining whether drugs or alcohol, along with excessive speed, played a role in the fatal crash.
Duignan’s family today said “he was so deeply loved, and his passing has left an enormous hole in the lives of everyone who knew him”.
A fundraiser for his mother, who he lived with, has raised more than $30,000.
A tribute came too from the band he went to see before he was killed.
“Our hearts and condolences go out to their family and friends and everyone affected by this loss,” Dino Kazares from Fear Factory said.
Source: https://www.9news.com.au/national/car-crash-sydney-victims-tributes/5ffb1b82-60d2-4fb8-90a7-59f85a1f8e13
