South Australians will gather to mourn the loss of a young man who most would have never met, but whose death in an alleged hit-and-run incident has deeply touched people across the state.
Charlie Stevens, the son of the state’s Police Commissioner Grant Stevens, died on November 18 after sustaining irreversible brain injuries — triggering an outpouring of support for him and his family.
Thursday’s twilight service at the Adelaide Oval will give members of the public the opportunity to express their solidarity with the commissioner after a devastating few weeks for the wider police community.
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Stevens, who was widely applauded for his stewardship of the community during the COVID-19 pandemic, received the crushing news of his son’s accident mere hours after speaking about the fatal shooting of Brevet Sergeant Jason Doig.
Through their grief, the commissioner and his wife Emma managed to pen an emotional tribute to their son — the 101st life lost on SA roads this year.
“I am writing this sitting in a bedroom with dirty clothes on the floor, an unmade bed, six drinking glasses lined up on the bedside table, an empty KFC box next to the glasses, wardrobe doors left open and a row of skateboards leaning on the wall — it is a mess and it’s perfect,” it read.
“This is where 101 lived.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition leader Peter Dutton read the letter into federal parliament’s permanent record in a moment of unity on Tuesday.
“It is so deeply personal, so perfectly true to the life of one young man in one loving family,” Albanese said.
“And yet it is somehow so universal, so faithful to the joyful chaos of perfect mess, the vibrancy of our children as they grow into young adults and so achingly powerful as it deals with every parent’s very worst fear.”
Dutton, a former Queensland Police officer, battled tears as he read the commissioner’s tribute in full.
“Charlie, Charlie Boy, Chas, Links, Steve. You lived life and gave so much to so many. You were a force of nature and we will never forget your beautiful, cheeky, disarming smile,” the letter concluded.
“Son, brother, grandson, uncle, nephew, cousin, friend, workmate, teammate. So much more than just a number on a tragic tally.”
Charlie Stevens’ memorial service will begin at 7pm in the oval’s William Magarey Room.
His parents have asked mourners to donate to the Operation Flinders Foundation — a youth charity of which Stevens is a board member — rather than send flowers.
Dhirren Randhawa, 18, faces four charges, including causing death by dangerous driving, over the fatal crash at Goolwa, about 90km southeast of Adelaide.
