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Police and emergency services at the scene of a deceased man at Helensvale. Picture: JERAD WILLIAMS Source: News Limited
NEIGHBOURS made a gruesome discovery yesterday when they discovered the body of a man crushed underneath a car in his garage in Helensvale.
The man, a truck driver and car enthusiast in his 50s, was working under the car in his home garage in Latrobe Ave when the tragic accident happened.
Police are yet to work out whether there was a fault with the jack holding the car up, or whether there was human error involved.
Police believe the man’s body had been there for more than 24 hours before it was discovered at about 5.25pm.
A neighbour, who did not wish to be named, said she first noticed the garage light had been left on and the garage door was open, about 5.30am yesterday.
“I noticed it was open but I just thought he was working on the car,” she said.
Later in the afternoon a man arrived with a parcel for the deceased man.
“I said, ‘He must be there as his garage door is open’ but the man couldn’t get hold of him, so I rang his mobile and left a message,” she said.
The neighbour eventually climbed the fence and found the man’s body.
“He was cold so he’s probably been there all night but I just feel awful that I didn’t look during the day,” she said.
She said the man was a “nice, friendly chap” who lived alone and kept to himself.
“He was always tinkering on the car — it was a hobby. He’s always had cars he was fiddling with. That’s why we didn’t think anything of it,” the neighbour said.
A work colleague also asked police to check on the man about 3pm after he had not turned up for work, but police did not check.
District Duty Officer Senior Sergeant Brett MacGibbon said police narrowed the time of death down to between 11am and 3pm on Monday but did not know exactly what happened.
“He was working on a car and something happened and it’s rolled backwards off the jack and he’s received fatal injuries,” he said.
“Our inquiries established that it’s certainly in excess of 24 hours.”
Mr MacGibbon said police were unable to check on the man at 3pm because there were so many other jobs on.
He said the Forensic Crash Unit and Scenes of Crime were investigating the incident.
“The inquiry established the gentleman who is deceased was well familiar with vehicles and it appears it’s just a tragic accident.”
He said the jack had been taken away for further examination but it was unknown whether there was a fault with it.
“If anyone noticed anything or heard anything out of the ordinary that may have been a precursor to the accident, we’d certainly like to hear from them,” he said.
