Official court documents have revealed what police claim a Berkeley man was doing in the hours before he allegedly dumped a Nissan van on railway lines at Kembla Grange, causing a passenger train to derail.
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Allan Simpson, 47, has been charged with eight offences stemming from the October 20 incident, in which a train carrying 12 passengers hit the abandoned vehicle just before 4.30am and flipped onto its side, injuring four people.
Documents tendered to Wollongong Local Court this week reveal police will allege Simpson stole the van from a property in Flinders sometime after 11pm on October 19, then headed to the Wollongong Kart Raceway, which backs onto the railway track at Kembla Grange.
It is alleged Simpson illegally entered the property sometime between 2am and 4am by cutting wire security fencing, before allegedly stealing a $3000 motorised go-kart.
Further details of what police allege occurred that night, including how or why the van came to be in the middle of the tracks, were not publicly available.
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