Xiao Zhang: Surgeon fronts Geelong court for plea hearing over fatal crash

Friends and family of a beloved horse groomer killed in a horror Bellarine crash have told a court of their heartbreak, with her parents wishing their last goodbye had be “just 30 seconds longer”.

Xiao Bo Zhang arrives to court in Geelong.

Friends and family of a woman killed in a horror Bellarine crash have told a court of their endless pain and heartbreak, as the heart surgeon who caused the crash fronted court.

Xiao Bo Zhang, 67, appeared in the County Court at Geelong on Wednesday for a plea hearing, after last week pleading guilty to a single count of dangerous driving causing death.

Crown prosecutor Yildana Hardjadibrata told the court that on March 20, 2022, Prof Zhang was driving his black Range Rover east along Swan Bay Rd when he failed to stop, slow down or give way and collided with a blue Mazda 3 travelling south on Queenscliff-Portarlington Rd, driven by Rachel Watts.

Following the crash, Prof Zhang’s car crashed into a black Toyota HiLux that was stopped at the other side of the intersection with a father and his four-year-old son on board, flipping the ute onto its roof.

Rachel Watts, 35, was killed in a car crash at Swan Bay on Sunday, March 21. Ms Watts was a "super groomer" for top equestrians, including two-time Australian Olympic medallist Shane Rose. Pictures: Supplied/Shane Rose.,

Ms Watts was pulled from the wreckage of her car, but died at the scene.

Mr Hardjadibrata told the court there were two sets of rumble strips, as well as give way and give way ahead signs leading up to the intersection.

Prof Zhang, who has no criminal or traffic history, was travelling at about 60km/h at the time of the crash, was not fatigued and tested negative for alcohol and drugs.

He was not on the phone at the time of the crash.

A witness, a registered nurse who knew Ms Watts’ parents and who had been travelling behind Ms Watts at the time, said Prof Zhang’s car appeared as a “black flash” followed by a loud bang.

The woman stopped to help as her husband called triple-0, first racing to the flipped ute.

Looking inside, she saw the four-year-old boy sitting on the car’s ceiling.

Nine victim impact statements were read aloud in court, either by Mr Hardjadibrata or Detective Leading Senior Constable Melanie MacFarlane, while two more were tendered.

Ms Watts’ parents, Sue and Geoff, spoke in a joint statement of the mental anguish, grief, trauma and constant, haunting flashbacks they have experienced since the incident.

The couple grieve when they visit the cemetery, when they hear sirens, cry at give way signs and “cry when we think of what should have been her future”.

They often recalled their final goodbye on the afternoon of the crash, and how: “we wish our goodbye had lasted thirty seconds longer, and maybe she would still be with us”.

Ms Watts’ sister Emily said had suffered in numerous ways since losing her sister, a sentiment echoed by her other sister, Samantha, who described feeling “irreversible pain and trauma” since losing her “best friend”.

“The void she has left behind in my life is irreplaceable,” Samantha wrote.

Ms Watts’ cousin said her loss was never-ending; a “crystal shattering to one million pieces, every piece as sharp and hurtful as the rest”.

Victim impact statements from Ms Watts’ cousin, aunt, and several friends were also heard.

In his own statement, the driver of the ute wrote of feeling exhausted and overwhelmed, as well as the impact the crash had on his four-year-old son.

Following the crash, the boy had became a nervous passenger, suffered nightmares about car crashes for 18 months, and became obsessed with “smashing up his own toy cars” so they resembled the cars in the accident.

The man said he has relived the moment over and over.

“I’m taken back to (his son)’s scream, the sound of the screeching … I am forever changed,” he wrote.

Following the prosecution’s plea opening, Prof Zhang’s defence, led by barrister Ian Hill KC, began their own submissions on Wednesday afternoon.

Originally published as Xiao Zhang: Surgeon fronts Geelong court for plea hearing over fatal crash