- Shannon Cox faced court over deaths of two women
- Pair died in Western Australia’s wheatbelt region in 2024
Former Collingwood AFL star Shannon Cox has pleaded guilty to two counts of manslaughter after he crashed into a car carrying two women, killing them both in Western Australia last year.
The 39-year-old made the plea on Wednesday in Perth’s Stirling Gardens Magistrates Court via videolink from Greenough Regional Prison.
He was originally charged with two counts of dangerous driving occasioning death after his four-wheel drive slammed into a hatchback carrying Thelma Clausen and Coral Senior near Cataby, around 170km north of Perth, in the morning of June 7 last year.
The two women, both aged in their early 80s, died at the scene. They were described as close friends.
A road train was also caught up in the collision but the driver of that vehicle was not hurt.
Cox’s charges were upgraded to unlawfully killing in circumstances not constituting murder after drug test results taken on the day of the collision were analysed, police prosecutor Sergeant Beau Jones told a Western Australian court in June 2024.
Shannon Cox is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to two counts of manslaughter
The former Collingwood star was originally facing two counts of dangerous driving occasioning death over the collision in June last year
Friends Thelma Clausen and Coral Senior (pictured) died when Cox’s four-wheel drive collided with their hatchback around 170km north of Perth
Cox’s lawyer, Paul Holmes, requested the preparation of a psychological report ahead of his client’s sentencing hearing in the WA Supreme Court in August.
The footballer was selected by Collingwood in the 2005 national draft and went on to play 25 AFL games for the club from 2007 to 2009, kicking six goals.
He cited a loss of hunger for footy as the reason for his retirement aged just 23.
‘Shannon returned from the post-season break and decided that he no longer had the desire and hunger to commit to the demands of AFL football,’ Collingwood chief of football Geoff Walsh told the club’s website at the time.
‘We fully expected Shannon to be part of our 2010 list – however we respect his decision to retire and wish him well.’
