Five years after fatal crash that killed Leanne Smith on Sturt Highway, Ian Peter Clarke pleads guilty
Five years ago, Ian Clarke stood in the dock and swore at a magistrate after he was charged over a fatal crash while he was high on meth and speeding. Now he’s finally admitted it.
Police & Courts
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He has been labelled a “disrespectful disgrace” by the state’s courts, as well as a serial road pest but finally, five years after a shocking crash, Ian Peter Clarke is a self-confessed killer driver.
On Friday, Clarke stood in the dock of the District Court and at last admitted he killed Loxton woman Leanne Smith at Annadale in May 2015.
Clarke – who was driving at 45km/h over the speed limit and high on meth at the time – also conceded he seriously injured Mrs Smith’s son, Ryan, in the fiery crash.
His demeanour in the dock was in stark contrast to his first appearance on the charges when, during a bid for bail, he told a court the case was “bulls--”.
Clarke, 50, whose appalling criminal driving history spans 37 pages of police records, now faces a maximum life sentence for his offending.
His guilty pleas bring to an end the legal saga that followed the collision between his car and that driven by Mrs Smith, a mother of two, on the Sturt Highway, between Blanchetown and Truro.
Mrs Smith, 51, and her son were returning to Loxton from Adelaide Airport, where they had dropped off relatives who attended a family reunion.
Clarke was high and speeding when his Ford GTE sedan crashed into the rear of Mrs Smith’s sedan, trapping her inside.
A passer-by managed to pull Ryan from the wreckage – Clarke was taken to Angaston Hospital, where he declined to answer questions.
Clark was, at the time, serving a two-year good behaviour bond for earlier offences of assaulting police and Commonwealth fraud.
His obstinance continued in court after his arrest where, despite a magistrate’s order he not “disrespect a person who has died”, he yelled and swore from the dock.
“All these allegations are bull---,” he yelled.
However, the charges were later dropped by prosecutors following a dispute over expert evidence.
A crash analyst hired by Clarke’s defence team argued it could not be proven be was driving any faster than 107km/h, while police insisted his speed was 150km/h at the absolute least.
The case was remounted in 2018 after Major Crash investigators travelled to Ford’s headquarters in the US for state-of-the-art analysis of data from the airbag of Clarke’s car.
Despite that information, Clarke continued to insist he was innocent and a trial was set down for July.
On Friday, however, Clarke told the court he wanted to change his pleas.
“I plead guilty … I’m guilty,” he said from the dock.
Clarke was remanded on continuing bail to face court again in May, when sentencing submissions and victim impact statements will be heard.