Damien Joseph Ward should be shown ‘no leniency’ over death of car crash passenger, court hears
‘I still talk to his photo’: The man who pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving after a car rollover that killed his friend had prior driving offences, a court has heard.
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A Coober Pedy man whose “friend” and passenger died in a car rollover in the state’s north has “limited insight” into the effect drugs had on him, a court has heard.
Damien Joseph Ward, 39, faced the District Court for sentencing submissions on Thursday on an aggravated count of causing death by dangerous driving.
Ward, who has been out on bail, previously pleaded guilty to causing the death of Dean Dunn in June 2018 when his car rolled over on the Stuart Highway in Wirraminna, about 60km west of Woomera.
Mr Dunn died at the scene.
Prosecutor Tania Stevens told the court Mr Dunn’s family had dealt with significant emotional stress since his death, which had caused some family members to withdraw from their community.
Reading an victim impact statement from Mr Dunn’s grandfather, Ms Stevens said he was taking sleeping medication to cope with the distress caused by his grandson’s death.
“I could not sleep for weeks after he died,” the statement read.
“I still talk to his photo, and that helps, but I know he will never return”.
She told the court Ward had a high concentration of cannabis in his system at the time of the crash.
“The fact he continues to use cannabis … shows, in my submission, a limited insight into the significance of his cannabis use even if it was, or is, used in a therapeutic context,” Ms Stevens said.
She said a history of speeding offences “rebuts any assertion that his offending was a once off incursion into bad driving” and should deny leniency in his sentencing.
Ed Jolly, for Ward, said his cannabis use was the result of ongoing spinal issues, but there was “no doubting the seriousness of this offending”.
He said Ward understood the gravity of his offending and “there’s not a day goes by” where he does not think about it.
Reading from a medical assessment, Mr Jolly said Ward told a doctor: “I keep questioning why it was him and not me”.
He also said Ward wrote a suicide note after being taken to Port Augusta Hospital following the fatal crash.
Mr Jolly said Ward had a good relationship with his mother which would “bode well” for his rehabilitation.
Ward is set to be sentenced later this month.