Jail for speeding driver who killed award-winning author in Perth crash

At 67 years old, Brenda Joanne Walker was about to start enjoying her twilight years with her beloved husband when she was hit and killed while crossing a street in Perth’s Kings Park nearly two years ago.

On Friday, the man behind the wheel of the car that hit her, 31-year-old Lucas Martins Da Silva, was jailed over the incident, with the court hearing how he was tired and travelling at 36 kilometres over the speed limit on his way to work when the crash happened.

The impact was devastating and left Walker – an award-winning author and sister of Cold Chisel musician Don Walker – with such significant injuries that she could not be saved, despite two nurses coming to her aid and providing medical assistance before she was taken to Royal Perth Hospital.

Walker’s husband Alex Ruskulis told the court via a victim impact statement on Friday that it was a cruel twist of fate she had survived breast cancer only to have her life “snubbed out” in such tragic circumstances.

Ruskulis said he was now “bereft” and a “hollow man” after the death of his “soulmate, best friend, my love, my life partner”.

The court was told CCTV footage in the area at the time of Walker’s death showed Martins Da Silva driving his black Toyota Yaris hatchback at speed along Kings Park Road in the early hours of December 10, 2024.

The speed limit in the inner-city park is 60km/h, but Martins Da Silva was clocked travelling at 104km/h before slowing slightly to 96km/h when he struck Walker as she stepped out into the road.

The force of the impact threw her into the air, and she landed 50 metres from the site of the crash.

Martins Da Silva, who moved to Australia from Brazil in 2020 and then Perth in 2022, stopped and waited while police and ambulances arrived.

He had not been drinking or consuming illicit substances, but did say he was tired and trying to work extra shifts as a carpenter to pay expensive fees for an Australian visa.

Martins Da Silva later pleaded guilty to charges arising from the crash.

His lawyer told the court “he was not thrill-seeking” and was not aware of how fast he was travelling when he struck Walker, adding that he was genuinely remorseful for his offending and the impact it has had on Walker’s family and friends.

In sentencing Martins Da Silva, District Court Judge Wendy Gillan said the incident was a tragedy for all involved, including Martins Da Silva, who wept throughout the hearing.

“What you did was completely out of character,” she said.

“It was an egregious lapse of judgement.”

Gillan said she needed to jail Martins Da Silva to send a message to the community.

“Other people have to know that if they do this sort of thing, it leads to significant punishment,” she said.

Martins Da Silva was jailed for four years, backdated to March this year for time already spent in custody, and Gillan disqualified him from obtaining a driver’s licence for four years from the date of his release.

Walker won multiple awards for her work that included four novels and a memoir. She was also a Winthrop Professor of English and Cultural Studies at UWA.