Mother of child victim of Geraldton hit-and-run Brenten Comeagain angry at driver’s last-minute plea change

The mother of a Geraldton boy left for dead by a hit-and-run driver is angry the offender waited 2½ years to plead guilty — only one week before his trial was due to start. Jarrod Heath Edwards changed his not guilty plea to guilty on August 25 to one count of a driver failing to stop and ensure assistance is received after an incident occasioning grievous bodily harm, a week before his District Court trial was set to begin on September 1. Edwards admitted to the hit-and-run that left Brenten Comeagain, aged 3 at the time, with horrific injuries, which he was lucky to survive. Brenten was struck and dragged about 100m on a Karloo street in March 2023. Edwards is also accused of driving while impaired by drugs. “I hate the fact that he waited a week before his trial when he had multiple times when he appeared in court to plead guilty,” Brenten’s mother Klarissa Narkle told the Geraldton Guardian. “I think the fact that it’s been 2½ years since the accident, why didn’t he do it with all that time he had? “He’s had plenty of time. I feel like he’s dragging it on so he gets more freedom, that’s what I feel like.” Ms Narkle is still waiting for justice for her son, but is thankful she will not have to relive all the trauma — including photos of her son’s injuries and memories of him screaming and crying in pain in hospital — during an eight-day trial. Brenten, now six, sustained a fractured skull and foot, broken legs, severe burns to his face and body, and other injuries to his pelvis and face. The family have had to move to Perth for Brenten’s ongoing medical treatment and needs, leaving their support network in Geraldton behind. In the immediate aftermath of the incident, his parents were told to prepare to say goodbye to their son, who ended up spending four months in hospital. “The way my son has suffered so much and is still suffering from ongoing surgeries, laser treatment, it’s heartbreaking seeing my son like that,” Ms Narkle said. “And then having to go through this court stuff and dealing with him and it’s just too much that a mother can take anyway.” Ms Narkle said “every part of her hated” Edwards and she hoped he would receive a jail term when he was sentenced later this year. “If he knew what my son had been through, I think he would hate himself too,” she said. “I don’t know how he even sleeps at night knowing he hurt a child. “It was cruel . . . not even cowardly, it’s cruel. It’s like he just left him for dead on the road.” Ms Narkle said her son was a “normal six-year-old who loves riding scooters and playing with family”, but his head injury had left him vulnerable. She said he had only brought up the incident once with her, which left her in tears and not knowing what to say. “He was watching a movie. I think it was a cartoon . . . and he just come up to me . . . and he was like ‘Mum, I remember being underneath the car . . . I felt the burning on my back’,” she said. When asked what she wanted out of the legal process, Ms Narkle said: “I wish the person who hit my son knew how much he has changed our lives. “And I just hope my son gets the justice he deserves.”