‘He’s dead’: Mum, sister reveal heartbreak after man killed in stolen car crash

A driver who killed a young man in a high-speed hit-and-run has broken down in court after devastated family members stared him down, revealing he had “destroyed” their family. Ryan Grafton, 30, was killed when a stolen car ran a red light and slammed into his Uber in Brisbane’s outer west back in May 2024. During a sentencing hearing for the killer, Kai Colin Matthew Fursey, on Friday, Mr Grafton’s mother sobbed as she told Brisbane Supreme Court Fursey had “destroyed my family”. Mr Grafton’s sister said she would never forget hearing their mother screaming down the phone in the middle of the night: “He’s dead”. The crash occurred just after 2am on May 28, 2024, at the Boundary Rd–Progress Rd intersection in Wacol. Fursey was driving a stolen Ford Mondeo and travelling more than 40kmh over the speed limit when he ran a red light and slapped into the passenger side of a Toyota Camry carrying Mr Grafton and another passenger. Mr Grafton was killed instantly and the other two were left critically injured. The court was told that Fursey, 28 at the time of the crash, was disqualified from driving, addicted to drugs, and had a long history of criminal behaviour. In the 18 months before the crash, he had been sentenced numerous times in Queensland and had criminal convictions in two other states. His licence had been repeatedly disqualified between 2019 and 2021, and he had returned to prison multiple times. Crown prosecutor Matthew Gawrych said Fursey’s stolen vehicle was fitted with stolen plates and moments before the crash he “applied the accelerator to full force”, running a red light. Fursey was travelling at 114.5kmh in a 70kmh zone, with “no application to brake” and accelerating at “100 per cent force” just 1.5 seconds before impact. The court was told Fursey “drove directly into the passenger side” of the Uber, where Mr Grafton and a 26-year-old woman, Amelia, were seated. Amelia suffered severe internal injuries requiring multiple surgeries. The Uber driver, Hussein Ali Mohamed, was unconscious and revived at the scene by two police officers who had been only a block away and rushed to the crash site. “Mr Grafton was essentially dead on impact,” the prosecutor said. Police later found methamphetamine and the GHB in the vehicle. Mr Gawrych said Fursey fled immediately after the crash, “running from the scene” and showing “no concern for the occupants of the vehicle”. Furseys fingerprints were later found inside the car. The Uber driver survived after being revived, while the female passenger was conscious but gravely injured and required at least two surgeries. Police searched a residence connected to Fursey on June 2 and found a note saying he intended to hand himself in. He eventually walked into Acacia Ridge police station on June 3 - a week after the crash. Fursey pleaded guilty to manslaughter, dangerous operation of a vehicle causing grievous bodily harm while excessively speeding and leaving the scene, unlawfully using a motor vehicle, receiving tainted property, possessing dangerous drugs, driving while disqualified, possessing property linked to drug offending, and breaching bail. His voice cracked as he entered each plea. The now-30-year-old wept in the dock as his victim’s family delivered emotional impact statements. Mr Grafton’s sister, Lauren Bennett, told the court the man she called “the person I was guaranteed to grow old with” had been taken from them “way too soon by a coward”. She recounted the moment her life changed forever, a panicked late-night phone call haunting her still. “It was my mum screaming ‘he’s dead’ over and over again,” she said. She spoke of Mr Grafton’s dreams, to travel to Antarctica, to start his own business, and eventually become a father, all of them stolen. She said her three-year-old daughter had lost her “favourite person, Uncle Rhino”, and that her parents woke every day to the “fact that their son is gone”. Their mother, Mrs Grafton, looked over to the dock, directly to Fursey. “You took my boy away from me,” stating that Fursey had not only killed her son but “destroyed my family”. “His dad is a broken man, our daughter barely functions.” “You took his life, you took him away from me … you will carry that burden and hopefully it destroys you. “You will never ever be forgiven.” Fursey, dressed in a white shirt with cropped hair and a plaited rat’s tail, broke down repeatedly, wiping his eyes and nose with tissues. His own mother and supporters listened in the public gallery, with one audibly scoffing at the victim impact statement. Fursey’s defence barrister told the court he had “some level of understanding … the enormity of what he’s done” and asked for a nine-year sentence. Justice Martin Burns said Fursey was “an untreated offender” with a longstanding drug problem but did not accept intoxication played a significant role. “I’ve watched him sit in the dock today and I accept he is remorseful,” the judge said, noting he needed more time to reflect before handing down the sentence. Several of Fursey’s supporters left the court jeering at waiting media, with one yelling “free Fursey”. The matter will return to court on December 18 for sentencing.