The victim of Brisbane Broncos star Ezra Mam's traffic accident has broken her silence on the matter, as a prominent lawyer believes the worst-case scenario would see him face up to 14 years in prison.
Nearly a week on from the car accident, more details have come to light as a mother and her four-year-old daughter were also hospitalised on Friday in Brisbane's west.
โShe [her daughter] has a fractured hip... she has really bad burns from the friction of the seatbelt,โ the woman exclusively told Nine News.
โI can remember looking up and straight away, I've seen this car veer straight in front of us. I knew what was going to come next
โI also remember saying โI need to get out, I can't breathe'. The Uber driver hopped out of the vehicle ... to let us out ... the door was jammed, it wouldn't open.โ
#EXCLUSIVE: These are the pictures of a little 4 year-old girl left hospitalised after the crash involving Ezra Mam. Sheโs been left with a fractured hip & seatbelt burns. Her mother, also injured in the Uber broke her silence to #9News today.@9NewsAUS@9NewsQueensland pic.twitter.com/fMXfjvjz6G
— Bailey Kenzie (@BaileyKenzie9) October 21, 2024
Perย The Sydney Morning Herald, the mother's family released a statement on her behalf directed at the 21-year-old star.
โYour life in football has given you many opportunities and rewards to go with that,โ the family said.
โBut it also means you are required to show your appreciation for the privilege of playing your game by being that much more responsible.โ
The words from the victim and her family come after Canberra lawyer Tom Taylor has revealed that the star five-eighth is facing up to 14 years in prison as the worst-case scenario for his involvement in a two-car crash.
While Mam is entitled to the presumption of innocence and has neither been arrested nor charged, he could face severe punishment as he was allegedly driving unlicensed and failed a roadside drug test.
"The precise nature of the charges will really depend on the evidence that's gathered as part of this investigation," Taylor said onย Nine's Today Show.
"There's a bit of public information that's known about it at this stage but there's still a way to go.
"Types of charges and the consequences that will flow from those charges will really depend on the evidence that's gathered."
Taylor went on to explain that the severity of the charge will depend on what type of drug was allegedly in his system at the time of the accident.
"The two bigger charges really are the charges that relate to the drug in his system โ if it is that the blood sample that was taken at the hospital confirms the presence of a drug in his system," Taylor added.
"They usually take a week or two to turn around. What we do know is that the roadside test is an indicator of the presence of a drug in the saliva.
"Those tests will only indicate four types of drugs: cocaine, cannabis, MDMA and methamphetamine, otherwise known as ice.
"But they can be unreliable so the best test will be the blood tests to confirm the presence of a drug and also the quantity of the drug which will determine through some expert opinion, how adversely affected he may have been if the drug was in his system."
Mam's teammate and good friend Patrick Carrigan also spoke about the incident as he prepares to face the New Zealand Kiwis on Sunday while the five-eighth was checked into rehab.
โHe's pretty disappointed, can't comment too much on things but, yeah, next steps for himself is to make amends and sort himself out with some rehab stuff and move forward as a club and for him individually,โ Carrigan said on Channel 7.
โI know the quality human he is, he's a great young kid, got a heart of gold and obviously he's just made a mistake.
โWe have some work to do as a club and so does he and he acknowledges that.โ
