Coroner's Finding: David, Nathaniel and Cheryl

Male·Nathaniel Calma David: blunt trauma of the head including laceration of the brain stem. Cheryl Ann Isip David: multiple injuries including multiple bilateral rib fractures, sternal fracture and laceration of the aorta

This coronial finding concerns two deaths resulting from a motor vehicle crash on the Bass Highway in Tasmania on 10 July 2021. Nathaniel Calma David (driver) died from blunt head trauma with brain stem laceration; Cheryl Ann Isip David (front seat passenger) died from multiple injuries including bilateral rib fractures, sternal fracture and aortic laceration. Mr David's vehicle crossed into the opposing lane, colliding with another vehicle. Witnesses, including the David children, observed the vehicle in the wrong lane. The coroner determined that drugs, alcohol, speed, weather and road conditions did not contribute. Inattention appears the most likely explanation for the lane departure. This is a non-medical death resulting from motor vehicle trauma; no clinical or systemic healthcare failures are identified.