Seventeen-year-old Kelsie Davies had been accruing night driving hours to apply for her licence when the car she and two church friends were travelling in was allegedly hit from behind, leading to a three-car crash that killed her and two others.
A 13-year-old boy is facing three charges of dangerous driving causing death, with police alleging he hit Kelsie’s vehicle from behind while driving a stolen Mercedes, causing her to crash into an oncoming vehicle near the Queensland town of Maryborough on Sunday.
Davies and her passenger Michale Chandler, 29, died at the scene. A second passenger, a 23-year-old woman, is fighting for her life in a Brisbane hospital.
The driver of the other vehicle, a 52-year-old nurse who was on her way home from work, also died in the crash.
Kelsie’s mother, Susan Marcus, told Guardian Australia she was “devastated” to lose her daughter, the youngest of eight children, a youth leader and intern at Reach church. “My beautiful girl was a true light of this world,” she said. “She never smoked or drank alcohol … She didn’t believe in sex before marriage and had a wonderful boyfriend.
“She was driving that night to get her night hours up to get her licence. The other ladies in the car were from the church as well and they were her best friends. We are all devastated.
“Kelsie was my baby, youngest of eight children and is desperately missed.”
Marcus said her daughter had been a talented performer who dreamt of dancing professionally after graduating last year from Riverside Christian College. “God must have needed another angel,” she said.
The state member for Bundaberg, Tom Smith, once taught Kelsie and said she was “a student that every teacher wishes that they could teach”.
“She was always keen to learn, eager to aim high and was, most importantly, just a very kind and sweet-natured kid that every one of her peers loved,” he said.
Chandler’s husband, Matthew, paid tribute to his wife on social media. “It is with the utmost heavy heart that we say goodbye for now to our darling, you were and will continue to hold the world’s greatest wife and mum award!” he wrote. “Until we meet in heaven, my Queen, love you to the moon and back!”
The 13-year-old boy sustained minor injuries to his foot in the crash. Police allege he took the Mercedes from a home in Maryborough about two hours earlier.
He was charged with three counts of dangerous driving causing death and one count of unlawful use of a motor vehicle.
On Monday police said they believed there may have been a passenger in the vehicle with him at the time of the crash.
The boy will appear in Maroochydore children’s court at a later date.
