{"id":186655,"date":"2017-08-11T23:05:51","date_gmt":"2017-08-11T13:05:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=186655"},"modified":"2020-08-18T15:24:33","modified_gmt":"2020-08-18T05:24:33","slug":"tragic-crash-rips-family-apart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2017\/08\/11\/tragic-crash-rips-family-apart\/","title":{"rendered":"Tragic Crash Rips Family Apart"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Kingaroy photographer Max Walters and wife Suzie … rushed to Canberra to be with Ben<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Baby Reuben Walters is now five months old
(Photo: Kalila Grevell)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

August 11, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n

A tragic car crash near Yass in southern NSW last month has torn apart the family of a former Murgon resident.<\/p>\n

Benjamin Walters, 33, was travelling with his wife Maria and young son Reuben – who was four months old at the time – when their vehicle left the road and crashed into a tree.<\/p>\n

Maria died in the crash and Ben was critically injured.<\/p>\n

The couple were married in 2015.<\/p>\n

Miraculously, baby Reuben who was in a rearward facing baby seat, survived without a scratch.<\/p>\n

Police are still investigating the cause of the single vehicle accident, but it may have been caused by a blown tyre.<\/p>\n

The crash occurred on July 21 but Ben is still in Canberra Hospital and is expected to be there for at least several more weeks.<\/p>\n

He is now out of intensive care but he has endured multiple operations and has had plates inserted into his arm and leg.<\/p>\n

Ben’s step-sister Kalila Grevell, who lives in Kingaroy, told southburnett.com.au<\/strong> that Ben’s father Max – a well-known local photographer – and her mother Suzie rushed to Canberra from Kingaroy the day after the crash to look after Reuben and be close to Ben.<\/p>\n

They’re still down there.<\/p>\n

“They take Reuben every day to see Ben,” Kalila said.<\/p>\n

Kalila became concerned about the expenses the family were facing – funeral costs (a date for the funeral has not yet been set), Ben’s medical needs, and Max and Suzie’s costs of staying in Canberra for so long.<\/p>\n

She knew her mother and Max were not the type of people to ask for help, so she decided to do something herself and opened up an account at the Westpac Branch in Kingaroy and linked it to a GoFundme crowd-funding web page.<\/p>\n

Kalila has set a target of $12,000 but has already raised more than $10,000 of this figure.<\/p>\n

At the moment Max and Suzie are looking after Reuben, but Kalila said that once Ben had recovered enough he would take back full care of baby Reuben.<\/p>\n