An adult woman killed alongside three teenagers in a horror crash in regional Victoria was the subject of an ongoing investigation into alleged grooming.
Alicia Jade Montebello, 31, originally from South Australia, was one of the four people who died near Bochara after a red Toyota Corolla crashed into a tree in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Meghan Fox, 14, Joshua Elmes, 15, Lucus Garzoli, 14, were also killed. Meghan’s sister Jorja, 17, remains in hospital in a serious but stable condition after suffering critical injuries to her upper body.
The shocking accident occurred on the Wannon-Nigretta Falls Road near Bochara, northwest of Hamilton, a large town in the Southern Grampians in the state’s southwest 290km from Melbourne.
Victoria Police say the driver of the car is still being determined. A video shared on Snapchat just before the crash showed the car barrelling down a dark road going 130km/h.
Earlier this week it was revealed that Ms Montebello had a lengthy history of driving offences, including drink driving, and was also facing charges of stalking and breaching bail.
Warrnambool Standard reported on Wednesday that those matters related to Ms Montebello allegedly stalking a teenage girl, whose mother believed she was being groomed.
Police sources told the local paper the girl’s mother had told them Ms Montebello wanted to have a sexual relationship with her young daughter, and those allegations were the subject of an ongoing police investigation.
In late March, Ms Montebello reportedly sent a teenage girl up to 30 text messages and attended her workplace.
She was charged with stalking and causing damage with her car — related to an incident at Branxholme Recreation Reserve in February — and bailed on the condition she not contact two teenage girls.
But the following month she was arrested and charged with bail breaches after allegedly twice being discovered in the company of the two girls, Warrnambool Standard reports.
On April 14 she appeared in Warrnambool Magistrates Court where she pleaded guilty to one count of causing damage wilfully, two counts of stalking and four charges of breaching her bail conditions.
She was not convicted and fined $700.
Before she moved to Victoria, Ms Montebello was charged with driving an unregistered vehicle with excess blood alcohol in January 2015.
Her licence was disqualified for four months and 14 days, but in February the following year, she was charged with driving with a disqualified licence, and failing to display P-plates.
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She was ordered to serve a 12 day prison sentence with no possibility of a parole period.
That sentence was then suspended and she received a further licence disqualification. Her vehicle was impounded on both occasions, and she was ordered to pay court costs.
— with NCA NewsWire
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