Teen charged after car allegedly hits rugby league fans at parade, injuring 10

Teen charged after car allegedly hits rugby league fans at parade, injuring 10 Police have confirmed they have charged an 18-year-old, Indika Bambrick Samarasinghe, with dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm in connection with the incident on Saturday morning A teenager has been charged for allegedly driving his car into a crowd of rugby league fans at a parade on Saturday. Thousands of fans lined the streets of Newcastle, in New South Wales, Australia, to wave the city’s rugby league team off to Sunday’s (October 4) NRL grand final, the biggest match in club rugby league. It will be Newcastle Knights’ first appearance in the showpiece game for 25 years. But celebration turned to devastation when a car allegedly collided with supports on the roadside, injuring 10 people. Among the wounded were a five-year-old girl and 67-year-old man, who were both hurt critically. All 10 were taken to hospital. The critically-injured pair are now in a ‘critical but stable’ condition, NSW Police said in a new update late on Saturday. Officers have also confirmed they have charged Indika Bambrick Samarasinghe, 18, with three counts of dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm; three counts of negligent driving; and three counts of causing bodily harm by misconduct, in charge of motor vehicle. He is set to appear in court on Sunday, reports ABC News . The cops’ update also confirmed four other people, including another five-year-old girl, a two-year-old girl, a 31-year-old woman and a 48-year-old man, are still in hospital in a stable condition. Another four people, three men — aged 24, 25 and 27 — and a 63-year-old woman have been discharged. The bus parade’s route had to be altered due to a ‘major incident’, the Newcastle Knights said. The bus had not reached the area of Newcastle Link Road where the incident took place. Newcastle Knights will take on Sydney Roosters for the NRL premiership on Sunday evening at 7:30pm local time, 9:30am in the UK. This season, both sides have been spear-headed by star performances from English players, Dom Young for the Knights and Victor Radley for the Roosters.