{"id":33007,"date":"2026-06-17T08:42:04","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T08:42:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/33007\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T08:42:04","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T08:42:04","slug":"father-of-gold-coast-teenager-killed-in-e-bike-crash-speaks-after-driver-sentenced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/33007\/","title":{"rendered":"Father of Gold Coast teenager killed in e-bike crash speaks after driver sentenced"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">A Gold Coast father whose son died in an electric bike crash has spoken out after the driver was sentenced, saying the devices need better regulation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Hudson Gagg, 17, died in September when the e-bike he was a passenger on collided with a car.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">The 17-year-old e-bike driver, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was sentenced in the Southport Children&#8217;s Court today, after pleading guilty to six charges, including driving without due care and attention causing death, driving unlicensed, and driving with a relevant drug present in his blood at the time of the crash.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">He was sentenced to nine months&#8217; probation and his licence was disqualified for nine months.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">The teenagers had been riding down a steep hill on Tallebudgera Creek Road on September 22, 2025 and were unable to brake before they collided with a car, the court heard.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Man speaks outside of Southport Courthouse\" class=\"Image_image__5tFYM ContentImage_image__DQ_cq\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/0ad4ed7bf3427714745b7d55ed8068c1.jpeg\" loading=\"lazy\" data-component=\"Image\" data-lazy=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"Typography_base__sj2RP FigureCaption_text__zDxQ5 Typography_sizeMobile12__w_FPC Typography_lineHeightMobile20___U7Vr Typography_regular__WeIG6 Typography_colourInherit__dfnUx\" data-component=\"Typography\">Jason Gagg says he hopes stricter e-bike laws will help prevent future deaths in Queensland. (ABC Gold Coast: Mark Rigby)<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Speaking outside court, Jason Gagg remembered his son as a jovial &#8220;boofhead with a big smile \u2026 who loved his mates&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Mr Gagg said he would like to see improvements to the registration of devices so that claims could be sought by those injured in accidents.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;You should have to have a licence and some type of registration so if there is an incident, people can make a claim against you,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;At the moment, there wasn&#8217;t anything there \u2026 there is no financial assistance to assist or support [our family], so that&#8217;s been tough.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Boy with dark hair smiles in front of bus\" class=\"Image_image__5tFYM ContentImage_image__DQ_cq\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2a3f13564844afc31757e2906813dd6e.jpeg\" loading=\"lazy\" data-component=\"Image\" data-lazy=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"Typography_base__sj2RP FigureCaption_text__zDxQ5 Typography_sizeMobile12__w_FPC Typography_lineHeightMobile20___U7Vr Typography_regular__WeIG6 Typography_colourInherit__dfnUx\" data-component=\"Typography\">Hudson Gagg is remembered by his family as a jovial teenager with a big smile. (Supplied: Gagg family)<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Devastating&#8217; impact, court told<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">During the sentencing hearing, Magistrate Mark Bamberry was told the bike was classed as a motor vehicle because of its power output and was unregistered and uninsured when it was ridden on a road.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Gold Coast police prosecutor Aaron Lockwood submitted five victim impact statements and said the details of the case were distressing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;One can understand the impact on a family of losing a son, a brother; it&#8217;s just been devastating,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;It&#8217;s a tragic set of circumstances for what is a very close-knit community on the southern end of the Gold Coast.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Boy smiles with thumbs up and waterfall behind him\" class=\"Image_image__5tFYM ContentImage_image__DQ_cq\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/79fc403bf3a3aea44878f554ea0f92e0.jpeg\" loading=\"lazy\" data-component=\"Image\" data-lazy=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"Typography_base__sj2RP FigureCaption_text__zDxQ5 Typography_sizeMobile12__w_FPC Typography_lineHeightMobile20___U7Vr Typography_regular__WeIG6 Typography_colourInherit__dfnUx\" data-component=\"Typography\">Hudson Gagg died after an e-bike he was a passenger on collided with a car on the Gold Coast. (Supplied: Gagg family)<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">In arguing for a probation period, Mr Lockwood said that no matter the sentence imposed, the circumstances &#8220;would not bring Hudson back&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Defence lawyer Daniel McShane agreed that a period of probation was appropriate and said the crash had haunted the offender.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;He suffers deep flashbacks from this; he suffered significant injuries spending weeks in hospital before having to learn to walk again,&#8221; Mr McShane said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">He said his client had a low risk of reoffending.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;He&#8217;s almost paralytically fearful of getting into a vehicle and certainly of getting onto a bike,&#8221; Mr McShane said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">The offender cried as Mr Bamberry handed down his sentence and detailed the friendship the 17-year-old had to Hudson.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;Imposing a sentence that will deter you isn&#8217;t [my] primary focus,&#8221; Mr Bamberry said.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Front of courthouse, big silver bollard that reads &quot;SOUTHPORT COURTHOUSE&quot;\" class=\"Image_image__5tFYM ContentImage_image__DQ_cq\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/c3299e445122e5fddd4a29293b7b3cff.jpeg\" loading=\"lazy\" data-component=\"Image\" data-lazy=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"Typography_base__sj2RP FigureCaption_text__zDxQ5 Typography_sizeMobile12__w_FPC Typography_lineHeightMobile20___U7Vr Typography_regular__WeIG6 Typography_colourInherit__dfnUx\" data-component=\"Typography\">The magistrate imposed a sentenced of nine months&#8217; probation after the e-bike driver pleaded guilty to six charges. (ABC News: Kimberley Bernard)<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re also a victim; you&#8217;ve lost your mate \u2026 asking yourself why you survived and why Hudson didn&#8217;t, that&#8217;s something you&#8217;ll have to live with for the rest of your life.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">The magistrate imposed a nine-month probation period, including conditions that the offender must not commit another offence, as well as a nine-month period of licence disqualification.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Jason Gagg said no penalty would bring Hudson back, and he hoped to see stronger regulation of the devices.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;I have no issue with e-bikes, it&#8217;s the riders and the device. It has to be regulated and has to be a proper e-bike,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;With all that said \u2026 for us, today, it&#8217;s another closure.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Gold Coast father whose son died in an electric bike crash has spoken out after the driver&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33008,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[22,21,1109,1991,2717,20595,29650,29651,29649,12741,29652,29648,2036],"class_list":["post-33007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-austrlia","tag-court","tag-crash","tag-death","tag-ebike","tag-ebike-laws","tag-edevice-laws","tag-hudson-gagg","tag-sentencing","tag-southport-childrens-court","tag-tallebudgera","tag-teenager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33007","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=33007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33007\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}