P-plate driver Jordan Brown pleads guilty to killing three friends in car crash under influence of ecstasy

THE mother of one of three young men killed by a drug-­affected driver while coming home from a bush rave said her son and his two friends had “climbed into a coffin”.

Jordan Brown (in sunglasses) leaves Penrith court after pleading guilty. Picture: John Appleyard

THE mother of one of three young men killed by a drug-­affected driver while coming home from a bush rave said her son and his two friends had “climbed into a coffin”.

Jordan Brown, 21, of Freshwater, pleaded guilty at ­Penrith District Court yesterday to killing his three friends Ben Sawyer, 19, Luke Shanahan, 21, and Lachlan Burleigh, 17, when he crashed his 4WD while under the influence of MDMA (ecstasy) on the Bells Line of Road at Bilpin on ­August 30, 2015.

Jordan Brown leaves Penrith court after pleading guilty. Picture: John Appleyard

Ben Sawyer was asleep in the back of the vehicle. Picture: Facebook

Lachlan Burleigh was asleep in the back of the vehicle. Picture: Facebook

Luke Shanahan was also asleep in the back of the vehicle

Brown also pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm to 84-year-old driver Barbara McLaren, whose car crashed into the four-wheel-drive driven by Brown as it slid sideways down the road.

Ben Sawyer’s mother, Georgina, said outside court that she was shocked to hear Brown was under the influence of ecstasy when he drove that day.

Deb Burleigh, mother of Lachlan Burleigh and Leanne Shanahan, mother of Luke Shanahan, leave Penrith court, with other family members after Jordan Brown plead guilty to the death of their sons. Picture: John Appleyard

She said free drug testing should have been provided at the festival, Psyfari, at Glen Alice, 80km north of Lithgow.

“We think those three boys got into a coffin. There were no drug-testing facilities available at that festival. Those boys would never have got into that car if they knew what he had taken … they just drove to their deaths, that’s what they did,” Ms Sawyer said.

The crash scene on Bells Line of Road on August 30, 2015

Since the crash, Psyfari has introduced drug-testing for drivers.

Agreed facts tendered in court revealed Brown failed to negotiate a sweeping right-hand bend and crashed into Ms McLaren’s car coming the other way.

The three victims were all in the back seat. Another friend of Brown’s, Daniel Richards, was in the passenger seat and survived.

Paramedics and emergency services on the scene of the crash on Bells Line of Road on August 30, 2015

The agreed facts state that later medical tests ­revealed Brown had such a high level of ecstasy in his system at the time of the crash that he must have taken the ­substance in the early hours of Sunday morning before they set off home just after midday.

Judge Stephen Hanley allowed Brown’s bail to continue.

He will return to court to be sentenced on April 10.