Cassandra Moreland’s son Liam Moreland, 20, and his best friend Ben Dines died on March 20, 2023, when their blue sedan collided with a black 4WD ute on the Geelong Ring Road. She speaks with Jena Carr about her petition for mandatory dashcams in Victorian vehicles.
Many parents dread the thought of losing one child, let alone two, but not knowing what happened feels like the worst part for Cassandra Moreland.
The Armstrong Creek woman began the worst day of her life with what seemed like a random mistake on March 20, 2023.
“I had finished work a little bit early because my youngest son had an open day at school which I wanted to get to,” she said.
“Something silly happened on Facebook. I saw the date, which was the 30th, and for some reason, I thought it was my brother’s birthday, so I put up a message on his Facebook.
“He replied and said, ‘It’s not my birthday, you idiot’, and I’m like, ‘Oh my God, it’s not’. So, I tried to delete the post when my son Liam rang me.
“He was just like, ‘I can’t believe you put that on Facebook’, and we were having a bit of a laugh about it… Then he said, ‘I love you Mum and I’ll see you at home’.”
Those were the last words Cassandra would ever hear from her son. Close to 45 minutes later, Liam and his best friend Ben Dines, who Cassandra thought of as a son, would be involved in a devastating car crash.
“I was in town with a friend and noticed my daughter had called me, so I answered the phone and she’s just screaming. She said, ‘Is it my car Mum? Is it my car?'” she said.
“I said, ‘What are you talking about?’ and she said, ‘On Facebook, is that my car? I sent it (a photo of the crash) to your inbox’. So, I went to the inbox, looked, and there it was.
“It was the accident scene, and I couldn’t remember the wheels on the car or anything about the car other than the colour.
“There were only three of those cars in Geelong as it was a very distinct colour of blue. So, at that point, I had a one-in-three chance that it wasn’t the boys.
“I work at the hospital, and I asked my friend to take me to the hospital as I didn’t know what else to do. I thought if something’s happened, then they’re going to be on their way to hospital.”
When Cassandra arrived at the hospital, she started frantically searching for her two boys.
“I walked in and went to one of the girls I know and said, ‘the accident that happened, you need to tell me if my kids are here’, and she just said, ‘Cassie, it’s not your kids, it’s a ute’,” she said.
“I went around the back to the ambulance waiting bay and just waited for an Ambulance Victoria officer to come out, and when he did, he just said, ‘No, it’s a ute that had a family in it’.
“I then asked, ‘So, everyone in the blue car is okay, that’s what you’re telling me? That there’s only a ute family here’.
“And he said, ‘Are you talking about the blue car?’. I said, ‘Yes, I’m talking about the blue car’. He said, ‘Can I see a picture of your son?’.
“I showed him a picture of Liam, and he walked away. He came back with a police officer, and I said, ‘Just give me the registration so I know’.
“He looked at Liam’s picture, went away, came back again, and then introduced himself. I collapsed then as I knew and that was the last bit of hope I had. He told me then that they didn’t make it. ”
Ben, 21, was driving on the Geelong Ring Road with Liam, 20, when their blue sedan collided with a black 4WD ute, which led to the death of both men.
To this day, Cassandra does not know what exactly what happened during the accident and said she did not want any more mums to experience what she went through.
“We expect that police are going to go out, look at everything, and find out what happened that day,” she said.
“The reality of it is that they don’t do that. What they do is collect witness statements and spend weeks chasing witnesses.
“Witnesses sometimes don’t get interviewed until three or four days after the accident. You’re not getting the right story, and then you’ve got to think about it from their side of the fence.
“They just watched two young men’s lives end in an instant and they’ve got to relive that and try and think about the accuracy of what they’re saying.”
More than a year after the accident, Cassandra started a change.org petition calling for mandatory dashcams in Victorian vehicles.
“I want to be the last parent that sits here and says, ‘I don’t know what happened’,” she said.
“You can live with things a little bit better when you have something, but when you have nothing, it’s a daily torture.
“I want to be able to collect as many signatures as I can and take it to parliament and say there’s people who agree with me that mandatory dashcams need to be looked into.”
Cassandra said the boys were very special and left a big gap in the family that could never be filled.
“It’s not a day you’re ever prepared for… Liam had so much charisma. He could light up a room and he’s just cheeky,” she said.
“If he was ever in trouble, he would do something stupid like dance. He was six-foot-three, skinny, and just looked like Mr Burns dancing, and we’d just laugh at him.
“The driver of the car, Ben, had come to live with me when he was 16, and he still lived with me at the time of the crash. Ben was really guarded, but when he loved you, he’d go to war for you.
“I’d have done anything for Ben, and I still do. His daughter is a massive part of our life, and that’s my little grandchild. So, I look after her for him.
“They would laugh and joke all the time, and when they both moved home, we had to put a bed on the floor for them.
“You’d hear them every night saying, ‘I’m not sleeping with you tonight’, and you’d walk out in the morning, and they’re both on the bed.
“One of them would go, ‘You cuddled me last night; I could feel you’, and the other would go, ‘You get into bed with me; you’re getting cuddled’.
“They just had this way about them, and they’ve lived together for so long, so they were more like brothers. They just had this energy that only 20- and 21-year-olds have that is just larger than life.”
Cassandra’s petition has received 946 signatures as of 9am Thursday, September 26. Visit change.org/DashCams for more information and to sign the petition.
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