Shane Leistra, accused of double fatal Easter crash at Penola in SA’s South-East, appears in court

The man charged over a shocking crash near Penola that killed two people has appeared in court – which heard there were fears of “repercussions”.

One of the three cars involved in the double-fatal crash near Penola. Picture: 7NEWS

A man charged over a horrific double fatal crash on Easter Sunday near Penola in SA’s South-East fears “repercussions” from the local community, a court has heard.

Shane Leistra, 51, appeared in the Mount Gambier Magistrates Court via phone link from hospital on Tuesday, charged with two counts of cause death by dangerous driving and two counts of cause serious harm by dangerous driving.

The couple killed in the crash has since been identified as Trevor and Catherine Schutz.

Defence counsel for Mr Leistra, of Coonawarra, applied for bail on his client’s behalf, with prosecution not opposed.

A police prosecutor told the court Mr Leistra, who was driving a Ford ute, showed little remorse at the crash scene.

“The defendant, at the time … had shown a lack of remorse,” she said. “I can’t comment on why that’s the case … it could be a number of reasons.”

The crash scene near Penola where two people died. Picture: Supplied

The police prosecutor asked for a bail condition to be imposed barring Mr Leistra from driving a car for the next 12 months.

She also said there was concern the accused might suffer “repercussions” from the local community.

“There’s no specific threat, that I know of, against this defendant, (but) someone may know the deceased in this matter,” she said.

“Hopefully this will never happen again.”

The remains of the Ford ute after the crash near Penola, where two people died. Picture: Supplied

Police and emergency services were called to the Riddoch Highway and Three Mile Lane just after 5.15pm on Sunday after reports of a crash between a Ford sedan, a Ford ute and a Tesla.

A couple in the Ford sedan – a 62-year-old male driver and his 54-year-old female passenger, both from Suttontown, a suburb of Mount Gambier, died at the scene.

Mr Leistra was injured and taken to hospital, while the driver of the Tesla, a 42-year-old woman, and her 69-year-old female passenger, both from Victoria, were taken to hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

Eyewitnesses said the crash caused a “debris explosion” that went into the sky.

On Tuesday, the court heard Mr Leistra had undergone a mandatory blood test in hospital and prosecutors were awaiting results.

According to his Facebook profile, Mr Leistra used to work at Wynns Coonawarra.

Mr Leistra was released on bail to reside with his sister and will next appear in the Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in November.