Benn James Rain pleads guilty to dangerous driving causing death

A bricklayer on his way to work ran a red light and killed a motorcyclist in a horror crash because he thought the light was green, a court has heard.

Benn Rain outside Geelong court on Tuesday.

A bricklayer on his way to work ran a red light and killed a motorcyclist in a horror crash because he thought the light was green, a court has heard.

Benn James Rain, 35, appeared in the County Court in Geelong on Tuesday for a plea hearing, having earlier pleaded guilty to a single charge of dangerous driving causing the death of 45-year-old disability support worker, Jesse Heath.

Crown prosecutor Yildana Hardjadibrata told the court Rain had picked up two employees on the morning of August 4, 2023, and was driving along Melaluka Rd just before 6.40am on the way to pick up another employee prior to the crash.

Approaching the intersection of Melaluka Rd and the Bellarine Hwy, the court heard Rain made no attempt to stop at a red light and “coasted” through.

The light had been red for over two minutes prior to the crash, Mr Hardjadibrata said.

Mr Heath, who was travelling on Bellarine Hwy on his motorcycle and had a green light, collided with the side of Rain’s car and suffered traumatic head injuries.

He was flown to the Alfred Hospital in a life-threatening condition and died almost a month later.

Rain and his employees were not injured in the crash.

Mr Hardjadibrata read out victim impact statements from several family members of Mr Heath, who remembered the keen motorcyclist as a caring, loving and funny person, and a “beacon of kindness” who was “cruelly” taken before his time.

His partner, Anna, wrote in her statement that it was “eight months since he died; it seems like eight days”.

“My grief is dreadful, it overwhelms me, it stops me in my tracks,” she wrote.

“The joy has gone out of my life.”

Mr Heath’s adoptive mother, Colleen, wrote that the loss had left “a terrible hole in all our lives” she wrote.

His adoptive father, Ian, wrote he had lost his “best mate”.

Rain’s lawyer, Brad Newton, told the court Rain was “devastated” and had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.

“It is the case … that the defendant stopped at the scene, rang triple-0, together with the assistance of an employee, and he did all that he could from that point to co-operate with authorities at the collision scene,” Mr Newton said.

Mr Newton characterised Rain as a hardworking man, who had pulled himself out of a difficult home life with an abusive and domineering father into a successful businessman.

“He’s left the bad behind and taken the good,” Mr Newton said.

Mr Newton pointed the court to a reference by Rain’s mother, who described picking her son up from the police station.

“The man that got into my car that day was broken, he burst into tears and kept apologising,” his mother wrote.

Rain had “crumpled” upon hearing the news that Mr Heath had died, the court heard.

Mr Newtown told the court that Rain had seen a green turning arrow and assumed the light was green, having paid “clearly insufficient attention”.

Rain was supported in court by a large contingent of friends and family.

The matter was adjourned for the plea hearing to continue on May 31. 

Originally published as Benn James Rain pleads guilty to dangerous driving causing death