Father John Varvaris pleads guilty to negligent driving after incident with elderly parishioner

·

An elderly priest with a long-standing commitment to his community is facing uncertainty as he awaits the outcome of a tragic incident involving a parishioner he accidentally struck with his car. 

85-year-old Father John Varvaris appeared in the Sutherland Local Court on Tuesday, March 5, after pleading guilty to negligent driving causing grievous bodily harm. 

According to The Daily Telegraph, Father Varvaris was driving a woman, whom he had known through his church, to her late husband’s grave for prayers on September 24, 2022. 

Upon returning her home to San Souci, the 87-year-old woman disembarked from the vehicle, only for Father Varvaris, who intended on reversing, to accidentally accelerate forward, hitting the woman who stood to the left of the car.

The woman fell face-first into a knee-high brick fence, which resulted in her obtaining life-changing injuries.

Following the incident, Father Varvaris immediately helped the woman and called triple zero, where police and paramedics then attended the scene. She was taken to St George Hospital.

st George hospital
The parishioner was taken to St George Hospital in Sydney following the incident. Photo: St George ICU.

The woman was left with a brain bleed, facial laceration and broken teeth, injuries to her eye and an ankle and foot fracture. Documents revealed that since the incident, she hasn’t been able to walk unassisted.

When Father Varvaris was seen in court, his lawyer said he would feel guilty for the “unfortunate accident” for the rest of his days.

His lawyer said Father Varvaris had “momentary inattention” and the consequences were unintentional.

The court heard Father Varvaris’ children had also instigated that their father have a restriction placed on his licence to not travel beyond 15km per day at the time, due to the number of hours he spent serving the community and not taking breaks.

It was also revealed in court that Varvaris had no criminal history and had devoted his life in a “selfless and unwavering way” to his community and Christianity for over 50 years.

The court heard Father Varvaris’ license was cancelled in December 2022 on medical grounds, and over his 58 years of driving, he only had 16 minor traffic offences.

Magistrate Philip Stewart declared Varvaris’ case be adjourned to April 2.

Source: The Daily Telegraph.

Advertisement

Share:

KEEP UP TO DATE WITH TGH

By subscribing you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

Advertisement

Latest News

Greek film festival turns 30 with a Stellar Line-Up of Award-Winning films

The Greek Film Festival is celebrating a major anniversary this year - 30 years of bringing Greek stories to Australian screens.

Summer School for Greek Language teachers in Australia

For the first time in Australia, a specialized online summer school will be held for teachers of the Greek language in the diaspora.

Children’s week at the Greek Community of Melbourne

As part of Children’s Week the Greek Community of Melbourne Schools are taking part in the celebrations organised by the Victorian Government

Get Online Week at the Greek Community of Melbourne

As part of Get Online Week 2025, the Greek Community of Melbourne and Victoria will proudly join Good Things Foundation’s national campaign.

St Benedict School in Mt Torrens rejects screens, embraces ancient Greek philosophy

Established in early 2024 by members of the Catholic Church of the Holy Name, St Benedict has grown to around 50 students.

You May Also Like

John Rerakis: The Cretan restaurateur who breaks Greek food stereotypes 

They recently treated Kokkinakis to a Cretan feast but this is not the first time John Rerakis' restaurant, Philhellene, makes headlines.

Meet Joanna Kalafatis: New Greek star of hit Netflix series ‘Maestro in Blue’

Joanna Kalafatis is a beautiful Greek woman with voluminous hair. However, as the saying goes, there’s a lot more than meets the eye.

Emanuel J. Comino to give lecture in Melbourne on return of Parthenon Marbles

The Pallaconian Brotherhood of Melbourne and Victoria “Leonidas” is going to host a Public Lecture given by Mr. Emanuel J. Comino.