Driver in head-on that paralysed son on ‘ice’, court hears

THE man behind the wheel of this mangled wreck ‘looked out of it’ before he caused the tragic crash that left his unrestrained toddler and the driver of the other car paralysed for life, a court has heard.

The blue Mazda 3 is almost unrecognisable after the head-on at Kulnura. Picture Waide Maguire.

ON an online fundraising page that has raised $1900, a desperate mother describes the heartbreaking story of her fiance and two of her children horrifically injured in a head-on crash at Kulnura­.

However, police paint a different picture in facts tendered in court, alleging that the woman’s fiance was under the influence of “ice” when he drifted onto the wrong side of the road and into the path of another vehicle leaving his unrestrained toddler and the other driver paralysed for life.

The 31-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, left his Mangrove Mountain residence about 6am on October 19 with two of his children, aged two and four, to pick up his fiance and the couple’s one-year-old daughter from Armidale.

The white Mazda BT50 rolled twice before coming to rest on its side. Picture Waide Maguire.

A witness later told police he “looked out of it” when he overtook her along Peats Ridge Rd.

“I didn’t know if he was drunk, drugs or fatigued,” she said. Other motorists reported the man swerving in and out of his lane along George Downes Drive.

About 1.5km south of Spring Rd, at Kulnura, a man on his way to work in a fully laden white Mazda BT50 came around a bend to find “all of a sudden there was a blue sedan heading straight towards me, completely in my lane”.

“It wasn’t like he was swerving out of control it actually­ looked like he was intending to hit me,” the driver told police.

Paramedics and rescue workers trying to free the man and his two children at George Downs Drive, Kulnura. Picture: Westpac Rescue Helicopter

The impact caused the utility to roll twice landing on its side while the sedan crossed the north bound lane and came to rest on a grassy verge.

The utility driver was taken to John Hunter Hospital before being transferred to Royal North Shore Hospital for spinal rehabilitation.

He was left a paraplegic as a result of the crash.

The Mazda 3 sedan driver’s daughter broke both her ankles but somehow escaped­ more serious injuries and has since fully recovered. However, the impact snapped her younger brother’s C7 vertebrae leaving him a paraplegic and on a breathing machine for the next two months.

A blood sample from their father found he had 0.72mg/L of methylamphetamine in his system.

Emergency services at the scene. Picture: Westpac Rescue Helicopter

The man appeared at Wyong Local Court on Monday where he faced 10 charges including two counts of dangerous driving and two counts of aggravated driving occasioning grievous bodily harm under the influence of drugs.

He was also charged with failing to restrain both children. The man is yet to enter any pleas and the matter returns­ to court on June 15.