A Mount Gambier man charged over a Nangwarry crash that killed two children has been released on bail

A Mount Gambier man accused of killing two children in a three-car crash involving an emu has been released on bail despite police concerns that his mobile phone was taken from the scene and has not since been found.

Warning: This story contains graphic imagery that readers may find disturbing.

The judge noted that any interference with the police investigation by hiding the phone could not have been made by the accused because he was only in custody late in the afternoon.

Callum Thorne, 22, is charged with two counts of causing death by dangerous driving and four counts of causing harm by dangerous driving.

Police say a black sedan collided with an emu on Sunday and the driver was uninjured.

They said a Toyota station wagon behind the sedan braked to avoid a collision and then Mr Thorne’s white Nissan Ute hit the rear of the Toyota.

An emu decaying on the site of a road with an ute driving past the pine trees. — An emu who died in a crash on the Riddoch Highway on Sunday. (ABC South East SA: Eugene Boisvert)

Isaac Eykelenburg, 5, who was a passenger in the station wagon, died at the scene.

Issac’s sister, 15-year-old Keziah Eykelenburg, who was also in the car was taken to hospital in Adelaide with serious injuries but died on Monday evening.

The children’s parents, Chris and Paula Eykelenburg, as well as their two children, aged 6 and 13, were injured.

A young man in a white shirt with a blue checkered pattern sits behind the wheel of a white car with a truck. — Callum Thorne in an Instagram video in the same car that was involved in the accident. (Delivered: Instagram)

The emergency phone number is hidden

Police told the Adelaide Magistrates’ Court that Mr Thorne’s phone was heard ringing at the scene of the accident and a nurse then handed it over to Mr Thorne’s mother or girlfriend.

It was then detected heading south towards Mount Gambier at 4.30pm and switched off at 4.46pm on Sunday.

Police were unable to find him when they searched the house where Mr Thorne lives with his family, including his father, who is a sheriff at Mount Gambier Magistrates’ Court.

Police vehicles at an intersection in the South East Region of SA. — Police blocked the road leading up to Sunday’s accident. (ABC South East SA: Josh Brine)

The prosecutor said a “signal was detected” at the Thorne family home at 12pm today, before Thorne’s father visited him in custody, but not later.

“I do not agree that the accused and his family do not know where the phone is. I suspect some perversion,” she said.

The term “GoDark bag” was found on Thorne’s brother’s tablet, referring to a bag into which a phone can be placed to hide signals from police.

The prosecutor asked for Thorne to be remanded in custody for six months, but Judge Benjamin Sale granted Thorne bail until May next year, noting his lack of a criminal record and the possibility of the charges being reduced.

“I am concerned about the allegation of interference with the police investigation into the recovery of the defendant’s mobile phone, but not by the fact that any interference may or may not have occurred while Mr Thorne was in custody,” Judge Sale said.

Thorne will appear in court again in May.