A broken family has relived the horrific moments a drunk and speeding driver tore through their lives, killing a nine-year-old boy who had overcome years of health challenges and leaving his parents with grief they said they would carry forever.<\/p>\n
The Brisbane Supreme Court was told Keith Andrew Chambers was heavily intoxicated and travelling up to 64km\/h over the speed limit when he lost control of his mini-van and crashed into Aiden Guimaraes and his father David as they rode an electric bike along a marked bike path at Robina in October 2024.<\/p>\n
The courtroom was packed with Aiden\u2019s supporters on Tuesday, with so many people attending that a second room had to be opened so proceedings could be viewed by livestream.<\/p>\n
Aiden\u2019s mother, Andrea Guimaraes, sat directly behind Chambers as he entered the dock wearing a black suit and appearing visibly nervous.<\/p>\n
As he was formally arraigned, Chambers pleaded guilty to manslaughter, dangerous operation of a vehicle causing grievous bodily harm while adversely affected by an intoxicating substance while excessively speeding, and high-range drink-driving.<\/p>\n
Crown prosecutor Nathan Crane told the court there was no innocent explanation for what happened that afternoon.<\/p>\n
After drinking alcohol at his girlfriend\u2019s home, Chambers got behind the wheel and began driving erratically. <\/p>\n
About 1.2km before the crash, witnesses saw him nearly collide with one vehicle at a roundabout before swerving dangerously around another. <\/p>\n
Moments later, he approached a bridge near Robina Town Centre Dr, travelling between 113km\/h and 132km\/h in a 70km\/h zone.<\/p>\n
At the same time, Aiden and his family were riding home after sharing burgers at Grill\u2019d, with the nine-year-old riding on the back of an electric bike being ridden by his father, David Guimaraes.<\/p>\n
The court was told Aiden had been born with velocardiofacial syndrome and endured years of medical treatment and five surgeries before flourishing. <\/p>\n
Because his condition made riding a traditional bicycle difficult, the family bought an electric bike so he could enjoy rides with them.<\/p>\n
Mr Guimaraes had also battled multiple sclerosis, but treatment overseas had significantly improved his condition. He later described that period as one of the happiest times of the family\u2019s life.<\/p>\n
Then, in an instant, everything changed.<\/p>\n
Mr Crane said Chambers struck a concrete median while speeding and intoxicated, causing him to lose control and plough into the father and son who were riding on a dedicated bike path.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe impact was significant,\u201d Mr Crane said.<\/p>\n
The force of the collision scattered debris across the roadway, with the battery from the electric bike landing 62m from the point of impact.<\/p>\n
Aiden suffered catastrophic injuries.<\/p>\n
He was rushed to hospital and placed on life support, but Mr Crane said the injuries \u201cwere never going to be survivable\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mr Guimaraes was left with multiple fractures, including serious injuries to his ribs, vertebrae and shoulder blade.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr Chambers was uninjured,\u201d Mr Crane said.<\/p>\n
In the chaotic aftermath, Chambers approached the family and claimed another vehicle had clipped him. <\/p>\n
The court was told he attempted to remove Aiden\u2019s helmet before being repeatedly told not to touch the injured boy.<\/p>\n
Mr Crane said Chambers later claimed he had suffered a medication-induced blackout, but that explanation was rejected.<\/p>\n
The prosecutor said Chambers showed \u201ccarelessness and recklessness\u201d and suggested there was no reason for his driving other than the \u201cexcitement\u201d of it.<\/p>\n
He also pointed to Chambers\u2019 criminal and traffic history, including previous drink-driving offences and the loss of his licence in 2020 after recording a blood alcohol reading of 0.180.<\/p>\n
After the details of the crash were laid bare, Aiden\u2019s mother told the court what had been taken from her family.<\/p>\n
Fighting back tears, she described her children as \u201cthe true love of my life\u201d and spoke about the years she spent caring for Aiden through serious health complications that had almost claimed his life as a baby.<\/p>\n
After countless hospital visits and surgeries, she had watched him flourish.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo watch it all be stripped away in an instant,\u201d Ms Guimaraes said.<\/p>\n
She recalled the horrifying moment she saw the crash unfold, describing how her son\u2019s body flew through the air before landing motionless on the ground.<\/p>\n
When Chambers moved towards Aiden, she remembered screaming at him not to touch her son.<\/p>\n
The nightmare continued at hospital, where doctors told the family there was nothing more they could do.<\/p>\n
Ms Guimaraes told the court she was forced to make the unimaginable decision to turn off Aiden\u2019s life support.<\/p>\n
Supporters throughout the gallery broke down as she described holding her son, feeling his heart \u201cslowly stop beating\u201d and watching him take his final breath.<\/p>\n
Even a Corrective Services officer in court appeared overcome by emotion, reaching for tissues while trying to hold back tears.<\/p>\n
\u201cA parent should never have to bury their child,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She told the court she now struggled with driving at dusk, avoided the area where the crash occurred and found many days impossible to navigate.<\/p>\n
She remembered Aiden as a \u201ccheeky little boy who absolutely loved life\u201d, with a passion for monster trucks, video games, Pokemon and dogs.<\/p>\n
Among the last words she heard him speak were: \u201cLove you Mummy, love you Daddy.\u201d<\/p>\n
A statement from Mr Guimaraes was read to the court by Mr Crane, revealing a father completely broken by the loss of his son.<\/p>\n
He revealed that when he was a child, Mr Guimaraes\u2019 own mother was struck by a drunk-driver and continued to suffer the consequences of those injuries throughout her life.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow I\u2019ve been affected twice by drunk-drivers,\u201d Mr Crane read on Mr Guimaraes\u2019 behalf.<\/p>\n
He described his sons as the \u201cmost well behaved and loving boys\u201d.<\/p>\n
Now, he said, he must live with the loss of a son who fought so hard to survive the obstacles life had already placed before him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI must now spend the rest of my life looking at an empty chair \u2026 The eternal silence is deafening,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n
Recalling the moment he learnt Aiden had died while lying injured in hospital himself, Mr Guimaraes questioned why he had survived when his son had not.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat god takes a nine-year old but leaves his father,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n
Justice Glenn Martin will sentence Chambers at a later date.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A broken family has relived the horrific moments a drunk and speeding driver tore through their lives, killing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27837,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[22,21,25612,25622,25611,25598,25606,25608,18725,25603,25604,25624,25609,25600,25595,25614,25621,25613,25602,25617,25610,25620,5030,25616,25618,25619,25605,25615,1293,25601,25597,25623,6985,25607,25599,25596,8923],"class_list":["post-27836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-austrlia","tag-back-tears","tag-battled-multiple-sclerosis","tag-bike-path","tag-blood-alcohol-reading","tag-corrective-services-officer","tag-countless-hospital-visits","tag-crown-prosecutor","tag-david-mr-guimaraes","tag-dedicated-bike-path","tag-drink-driving-offences","tag-electric-bike","tag-eternal-silence","tag-final-breath","tag-glenn-martin","tag-health-challenges","tag-health-complications","tag-heartbreaking-final-moments","tag-high-range-drink-driving","tag-innocent-explanation","tag-keith-andrew-chambers","tag-life-support","tag-marked-bike-path","tag-monster-trucks","tag-multiple-fractures","tag-multiple-surgeries","tag-nathan-crane","tag-newswire-court","tag-obstacles-life","tag-richard-gosling","tag-shoulder-blade","tag-speed-limit","tag-speeding-driver","tag-traffic-history","tag-velocardiofacial-syndrome","tag-video-games"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27836\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}