Joel Thickins, the 48-year-old boss of TPG Capital, is due to appear at Waverley Local Court in Sydney’s eastern suburbs on June 30 after allegedly smashing his electric BMW i5 into five cars this week.

The court date matters now because it turns a high-end crash into a public legal matter for one of the most visible figures tied to TPG, and the case is being watched closely by investors in the firm and Thickins’ portfolio companies. The alleged collision involved five cars, and police are said to have asked him for a breath test twice this week before he refused both times.

Waverley Local Court sits in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, just up the road from where the alleged crash happened, putting the legal aftermath close to the scene of the incident. That proximity matters in a case that has moved quickly from the road to the courtroom.

The refusal to take police breath tests twice complicates any suggestion that this was simply a mistake. It leaves the court date with more at stake than a damage bill or a traffic report, because the unanswered question is not whether Thickins will appear on June 30 — he will — but what, if any, charges he faces when he does.