Truck driver Richard Murray found not guilty of hit-run charges over cyclist Frank Fiocco’s death in Geraldton

A truck driver accused of fatally striking a cyclist on a Geraldton highway five years ago and leaving him for dead has been cleared of all charges after a District Court jury deliberated for almost 10 hours. Richard Lindsay Murray stood trial in the Geraldton District Court over the alleged hit-and-run of cyclist Frank Anthony Fiocco on September 14, 2017. He was facing charges of failing to stop following an incident causing death and failing to alert emergency services and ensure Mr Fiocco received treatment. On Monday afternoon, the jury delivered its verdicts of not guilty on both counts. Mr Fiocco was struck while riding his bike along Brand Highway in Wandina and died at the scene. During the trial, the court was told GPS data showed Mr Murray drove his truck through the area of the collision at 5.20am, after the last witness to see Mr Fiocco alive drove past him at 5.15am and before he was found by another witness at 5.49am. A headlight cover belonging to the same type of truck Mr Murray drove was found at the site, but forensic police were not able to confirm or deny if it belonged specifically to Mr Murray’s truck. Mr Murray’s truck was found with damage to the front, including a missing headlight cover, which he said was caused by hitting a kangaroo two days before Mr Fiocco’s death. Prosecutor Gary Huggins alleged Mr Murray spun a number of deliberate lies to avoid suspicion. Police noted a number of inconsistent details in Mr Murray’s three interviews, including him failing to mention a missing headlight cover until police raised it, and differing stories on how and when the cover came off after the kangaroo collision. Mr Huggins also pointed to Mr Murray’s logbook where he wrote that he began driving at 6.30am on the day of the collision, while the truck’s data showed he began driving at 3.51 am. The prosecutor suggested Mr Murray falsified this information to hide he was driving at the time the cyclist was hit. Mr Murray maintained he was not involved in the incident. His lawyer Curt Hofmann stated the reason Mr Murray put false times in his logbook was to hide the fact he did not take a mandatory break after five hours of driving, and any inconsistencies in interviews could be explained by lapses in memory given they happened between 2017 and 2020. The defence argued there was not enough evidence linking the Mr Murray to the collision, with no DNA evidence found, and that the police investigation was insufficient. Police were unable to provide a full reconstruction of the scene, and were not able to secure CCTV footage from a petrol station where Mr Murray had stopped earlier that morning, which could have shown if Mr Murray’s truck was already damaged. Outside court after the verdict, Mr Fiocco’s cousin, Sergio Parasiliti, expressed his disappointment and criticised the police investigation. “I didn’t like the way the whole trial was conducted,” he said. “Everything pointed to the guy. “I think Frank will never see his family, but this guy, even if he had been punished for the crime ... I believe he has committed, he can see his family all the time.”