Former Collingwood player Shannon Cox jailed for manslaughter of two elderly CWA women
A former AFL player will spend at least eight years behind bars after his life spiraled into a deadly drug addiction that ultimately claimed the lives of two women in a meth-fuelled car crash.
Shannon John Cox, 39, played for South Fremantle in the Western Australian Football League (WAFL) before being selected for Collingwood in the AFL in 2006.
Collingwood described Cox as a full-back who showed positive signs initially as a winger and half-forward. He played 25 matches for the club before losing his place in 2009.
Cox had a troubled childhood and began using alcohol and drugs when he was just 13 years old.
“Before he learned to ride a bike he was collecting drugs, he was alone and in a violent environment,” his lawyer Paul Holmes told the WA Supreme Court on Wednesday.
Mr Holmes said his client left high school in Grade 9 and learned to read while playing with Collingwood, but six years into his AFL career Cox eventually succumbed to drug addiction and spent time in prison for drug offences.
“Sport took him away from addiction. When he played at a high level he wasn’t using because of drug tests and scrutiny. When that went away he went straight back to drugs,” Mr Holmes said.
Cox was on a community order for drug-related offenses when he made the deadly decision to drive 414 kilometers from Geraldton to Perth with his 12-year-old daughter to collect his wife from prison on June 7, 2024.
He had consumed meth in the previous days and was sleep-deprived when he fell asleep at the wheel of his Toyota Prado on the Brand Highway near Cooljarloo at around 8.55am that morning.
Christian Owens was driving a tractor-trailer and pulling a trailer north when he saw Cox swerve onto the wrong side of the road and into his path.
Mr Owens moved his truck to avoid hitting Cox, but hit the side of the Prado trailer, spun and hit head-on the Suzuki Ignis traveling northbound behind the truck.
Inside the vehicle, two women in their 80s were on their way to the CWA Choral and Drama Festival in Badgingarra, just 40 kilometers from where the collision occurred.
Coral Senior, 83, and Thelma Clausen, 82, had been lifelong friends for 60 years and lifelong members of the CWA for more than fifty years when Cox crashed their car with his Prado.
The two women survived the collision but sustained serious injuries that deteriorated rapidly and both died at the scene.
Cox was taken to the hospital for a mandatory drug test, which revealed he had 0.77 mg of methamphetamine and amphetamine in his system and showed signs of insomnia.
While out on bail facing charges related to the crash, he failed a drug test and was jailed while awaiting sentencing.
His lawyer said Cox’s drug addiction was so high that he violated his bail conditions, which was the exact opposite of his desire to reunite his family, which was the reason behind the fateful journey.
State prosecutor Michael Cvetkoski said Cox should not have been behind the wheel and that his decision changed the course of many lives.
“He chose to drive while highly intoxicated, posing a serious danger to himself, his daughter and other road users on the Brand Highway,” he said.
“An expert stated that some degree of meth intoxication rendered him incapable of operating a motor vehicle.
“In this way, it is not surprising that the vehicle lost control and caused catastrophic events.
“He was supposed to do what was right in society and abide by the conditions placed on him. Instead he decided to use drugs and drive down the road and take two lives.”
In handing down the sentence, Judge Stephen Lemonis said drugs had been a dominant factor in Cox’s life since 2016 and that the fatal crash occurred due to drug addiction.
“You had a significant amount of meth in your blood, you had taken a significant amount of meth, which was making you unable to control yourself and you were having insomnia,” he said.
“You posed a serious danger to yourself, other road users and your own daughter, resulting in a tragic accident.”
Cox pleaded guilty in the WA Supreme Court on Wednesday to two counts of unlawful killing of another person under circumstances not constituting murder.
The man, who was sentenced to 10 years and six months in prison, will be eligible for parole after serving eight years and six months for the fatal accident.
In addition, his driver’s license was confiscated for 4 years from the date of his release from prison.
