Kenji Aoki high on drugs when he caused crash on grand final night
The driver who caused a major crash on the Hume Hwy as fans returned to Canberra after the Raiders’ grand final loss last year was high on a cocktail of drugs.
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The driver who caused a serious car crash as a convoy of Raider’s fans was driving back to Canberra after watching the team’s NRL grand final loss last year was high on a cocktail of drugs.
Kenji Aoki, 39, appeared briefly in the Goulburn Local Court by video link from Canberra on Wednesday where defence lawyer Paul Edmonds pleaded guilty on his client’s behalf.
Aoki will be sentenced in November on charges of driving suspended, dangerous driving causing bodily harm and dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm.
According to court documents, Aoki was driving on the Hume Hwy around lunchtime on October 7 last year, the day after the Raiders lost the NRL grand final to the Roosters.
A police statement of facts said traffic was heavy because it was a long weekend and because thousands of fans were driving back to Canberra following the Raiders’ loss. Aoki, whose ACT drivers license was suspended, was speeding in a Toyota Corolla near Marulan in the Southern Tablelands when he rear-ended another car.
Data from his airbag revealed he was doing 126km/h in the moments before he rear-ended Canberra man Daniel Buitendam.
Aoki’s girlfriend, Danielle Birch, had to be rushed to Goulburn Base Hospital and then flown to Canberra Hospital with spinal injuries and a broken pelvis.
Buitendam suffered a compound fracture and dislocation of his toe when his car was forced into the highway’s median strip and came to a stop after it crashed through shrubs and small trees.
Buitendam’s two passengers had no significant injuries.
Birch refused to speak to crash investigators at the hospital in Goulburn and Aoki told police the only drugs he had taken recently were Valium and Panadeine Forte.
But a blood test revealed a cocktail of drugs in his system, including amphetamines, methamphetamine and valium.
An expert report found Aoki was likely affected by drugs “to the extent that driving would have been significantly impaired”.
In court on Wednesday, Mr Edmonds said it was clear that “nothing other than some form of custodial sentence is appropriate”.
According to documents filed in court, Aoki is well known among ACT police because of his history of drug, weapons and property offending.
