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Mike Hall's mother says she forgives driver involved in fatal collision

Urges others to do so too

Mike Hall’s mother says there is “no blame, no anger and no recriminations,” after she attended the inquest into her son’s death. Referring to the driver involved in the fatal collision, she said: “I forgave him and asked him to try to move on and find a way forward to look after his young family and to have a good life.”

In March last year, Hall was competing in the inaugural Indian Pacific Wheel Race when he was hit from behind by a vehicle driven by Shegu Bobb near Canberra.

Bobb has faced no charges in connection with the collision. An inquest closed this week with the coroner’s findings due to be published early next year.

Hall’s partner, Anna Haslock, has strongly criticised the Australian Federal Police (AFP) for its “flawed investigation” of his death.

She specifically mentioned the AFP failing to retain vital evidence such as Mike’s clothing and failing to retain the driver's phone at the time of the incident.

Hall’s mother, Patricia, also attended the inquest. Writing on Facebook, she said: “I came half way across the world for my boy. I attended the inquest and sat for three days listening to the evidence. I knew whatever the findings will be that I have to live with it. There is no blame, no anger and no recriminations.

“I went for my son, who always asked people to be kind to each other and have empathy. I saw a young lad with fear in his eyes, with sorrow in his heart and I took him in my arms and held him tight as he sobbed that he was sorry for what he had done.

“I hugged him and his girlfriend, told him I forgave him and asked him to try to move on and find a way forward to look after his young family and to have a good life. I came to Australia to find answers and I did; I found the answer. All around in the courtroom I saw destructive anger that is negative. I saw people so wrapped up in their own need that it destroyed what my son stood for.

“But I also saw incredible steadfastness and the ability to reach out and have compassion. I came away with clarity. I had done what Mike would have done. I forgave.”

Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.

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4 comments

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matthewn5 | 6 years ago
1 like

There's a disused railway line all the way from Canberra to Cooma. If they are serious about learning from this crash, they could do worse than make it into the Mike Hall Memorial Cycle Trail or something like that.

There's already an 80km cycle track on the other side of the mountains, from Albury to Old Talangatta, with plans to open it all the way to Corryong:

https://www.railtrails.org.au/trail?view=trail&id=83

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ChairRDRF | 6 years ago
7 likes

Sorry, to say this, but I don't think the issue is about how his mother feels. If seh wants to deal with her pain by engaging in "forgiveness", she can do that.

However, the job of a civilised society is to make it harder for drivers to do this kind of thing, whether by engineering car and the roads and/or letting errant drivers know it's unacceptabel to drive in a way which could hurt or kill others. That means doing things which might not be nice and cosy to many drivers , and it's harder to do than forgiving (not that the rest of su have the right to do it anyway). But it needs to be done.

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EddyBerckx | 6 years ago
2 likes

It does take a very, very big person to say what she did - massive kudos to her, and ultimately she is right.

 

The only thing I will say is killer drivers who 'show remorse' rarely seem to offer up their license as proof of how remorseful they are.

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BehindTheBikesheds | 6 years ago
4 likes

I'm sorry for her loss, I cannot imagine how it must feel and I hope this outlook brings her peace/closure.

That said, her forgiving the killer and not wanting people to show hate/vitriol won't change how increasingly hazardous the roads will become if the authorities continue to absolve killers and blame people like Mike Hall for doing nothing wrong for their demise.

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