Kody Clenton faces court over drug-affected Wyongah crash that left woman with broken back

A P-plater was on a cocktail of MDMA and cannabis when he crossed onto the wrong side of the road and crashed into another car leaving a 78-year-old woman with a fractured spine and ribs.

A P-plater who was on drugs when he was involved in a horror crash which left an elderly woman with a broken back, was picked up four months later again driving with illicit drugs present in his system, a court has heard.

Kody John Clenton, of Budgewoi, faced a sentencing hearing at Gosford District Court on Wednesday where his Barrister Siobhain Climo told the court the 20-year-old had started undergoing urine drug screening tests “at his own expense” following the crash as well as seeing a psychologist.

She said despite the presence of drugs in his system and three passengers in his car, the crash was not an “abandonment of responsibility” and the court could consider an intensive corrections order given his remorse, young age and his prospects of rehabilitation.

Clenton pleaded guilty to one count of dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm with a further five charges, including driving under the influence of drugs, withdrawn and dismissed.

Kody Clenton, 20, of Budgewoi, has pleaded guilty to one count of dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm after this crash on Tuggerawong Rd which left a 78-year-old woman with a broken back. Picture: supplied

However the court heard Clenton had been picked up in May last year, four months after the crash on January 17, 2020, and charged with driving with illicit drugs present in his system.

The Crown prosecutor said Clenton only started undergoing urine screening tests 10 days after he was detected a second time.

Judge Tanya Bright said the fact he had taken MDMA the night before, smoked cannabis that morning and gotten into a car with three passengers and driven about 8.2km before crashing between 15-20km/h over the speed limit was “an abandonment of responsibility”.

“What we’re talking about is someone who was driving under the influence of drugs,” Judge Bright told the court.

The Crown prosecutor said the only appropriate sentence was full time custody.

Photograph tendered in court of the aftermath of the crash on Tuggerawong Rd. Picture: supplied

An agreed set of facts states Clenton was driving a Hyundai Elantra about 2.10pm on January 17, 2020, when he picked up a third passenger from Wyong Railway Station.

The facts state it was overcast and raining lightly as Clenton drove north along Tuggerawong Rd, at Wyongah, when he failed to negotiate a bend and slammed into a Mazda 6 travelling in the opposite direction.

Police estimated Clenton was driving about 65-70km/h in the 50km/h speed zone at the time of the crash.

He was breath tested at the scene and returned a negative result but police formed a suspicion he was under the influence of drugs and took him to Wyong Hospital for mandatory blood and urine samples.

“The offender made admission to consuming cannabis approximately 9am-10am on January 17, 2020 and consuming MDMA between 9pm-10pm during the night of January 16, 2020,” the facts state.

Drug tests found he had both drugs in his system.

Clenton faced Gosford District Court. (AAP Image/Sue Graham)

A report from a forensic pharmacologist, tendered in court, concluded Clenton “was under the combined influence of cannabis and MDMA to the extent that his driving ability would have been impaired.”

Clenton, who was 18 at the time, and his passengers, aged between 19 and 22, were uninjured.

The female driver of the Mazda, aged 62, suffered minor injuries but her 78-year-old female passenger was taken to Gosford Hospital before being transferred to Royal North Shore with multiple spinal and rib fractures.

She underwent surgery and had screws and rods inserted in her spine and remained in hospital for several months.

“Since discharge from hospital the victim has suffered back pain, and can no longer drive, nor stand for long periods or lift heavy objects,” the facts state.

Clenton will be sentenced on December 3.