THE COVER-UP

---

On the 7th of January 2013 a Government-owned Ford Territory SUV driven by Catherine or Daniel Andrews ran down a 15 year old child called Ryan Meuleman, almost killing him.

Ryan says he was struck by the front of the SUV on his left side while attempting to cross Ridley Street in Blairgowrie, a surf town on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula. Critically injured, Ryan was airlifted to the Royal Children’s Hospital. He was incredibly lucky to survive, having lost 90% of his spleen, suffered broken ribs, and required several full blood transfusions—equivalent to losing all the blood in his body six times over.

Both Catherine and Daniel Andrews falsely blamed Ryan for causing the crash. In their sworn statements to police both Catherine and Daniel Andrews claimed that Ryan had ridden into the side of the SUV and that is how he was injured. 

But in 2022, photos of the SUV from the crash surfaced, revealing no damage to the side where Ryan supposedly ran into it. Instead, the images clearly show damage to the front of the SUV—consistent with Ryan’s account that the vehicle slammed into him, throwing him onto the windscreen and over the back of the car. Nearly seven minutes after the crash, Daniel Andrews made a 000 call to report the incident, and the recording of that call exists.

 Assistant Police Commissioner Brett Curran (left), Senior Constable Shayna Sage (centre), Senior Constable Daniel Ward (right)

Initially, a police highway patrol vehicle, with three officers onboard was assigned to the crash. But then those officers were inexplicably told to stand down by Senior Constable Shayna Sage. Sage was stationed at South Rye police station. SC  Sage falsely claimed to be closer to the crash site than the highway patrol.  But SC Shayna Sage and Constable Daniel Ward  didn’t leave Rye South police station to attend the crash for another six and half minutes, all the while Ryan lay on a hot road near a dangerous intersection, with no police or emergency services in attendance. 

On arrival, the two police officers did not inspect the vehicle to establish who was driving.  They did not breathalyse Catherine or Daniel Andrews and they allowed Daniel Andrews to drive the vehicle involved in the crash away from the scene, despite the fact that it had a smashed windscreen and was unroadworthy.

They didn’t call out the major crash investigation unit, and they failed to take any measurements or photos that would have shown that the SUV was speeding and on the wrong side of the road when it slammed into Ryan, almost killing him. On the day of the crash, Daniel Andrews was the Victorian Opposition leader for the Labor Party, and his Chief of Staff was a Victorian Police officer, on leave from his police service, named Brett Curran.

Daniel Andrews and Brett Curran are refusing to say if they spoke on the phone on the day of the crash. They are also refusing to hand over their phone records from the day.

Ryan and his family will continue to call for Victoria Police to re-open the investigation into the near-fatal crash.  The case against Slater and Gordon continue. Following Dr Shuey's bombshell report, Ryan is also expected to take legal action against Victoria Police for failing to properly investigate the incident, and for allowing officers to destroy evidence and protect the former Premier and his wife from criminal prosecution.