Mark Darren Burns faces court over triple fatal crash on Yorke Peninsula
A MAN charged over a horror triple fatal on the Yorke Peninsula during the June long weekend has appeared in court for the first time.
A MAN charged over a horror triple fatal on the Yorke Peninsula during the June long weekend has appeared in court for the first time.
Mark Darren Burns, 41, of Bridgewater, appeared in the Kadina Magistrates Court on Tuesday.
Burns is charged with three counts of causing death by dangerous driving and two counts of causing serious harm by dangerous driving.
He is further charged with one aggravated count of driving without due care and one basic count of driving without due care.
Burns was reported by police after a two-car collision at the intersection of Yorke and Copper Coast highways, at Beaufort, on June 6.
The crash claimed the lives of Rebecca Thomas, 36, her husband Bradley Thomas, 32, and 14-year-old Jackson Tudhope.
Magistrate Nick Alexandrides was told Major Crash Investigation Unit officers needed more time to prepare a “complex” brief of evidence before the matter could proceed.
Burns then had to sign a bail agreement, which had a condition allowing him to travel overseas between November 22 and December 6 so he could attend his wedding.
He was remanded on continuing bail to face court again in February.
Tributes remain at the intersection where the trio were killed.
Two hockey sticks have been used to make a memorial to Jackson, who played in the under-15 hockey championships in the days before he was killed.
A baseball has been fixed to a road sign representing Mr Thomas’ love of the sport. He was a member of East Torrens Redsox Baseball Club until last year and had played more than 200 senior games.
His guernsey number 24 was retired and will be handed down to his young son, who plays tee-ball.
Mr and Mrs Thomas, of Golden Grove, who left behind two children, were travelling in a different car to Jackson when the crash happened about 11.15am.
Jackson was a passenger and had been travelling home to Kadina after the under-15 hockey championships.