M1 crash driver Kyle Richardson dealt drugs to pay legal fees, court hears

The former wakeboarding prodigy was in the “toxic” range of MDMA impairment when he crashed into a rock wall badly injuring his girlfriend.

A former child wakeboarding prodigy told a court he resorted to dealing drugs to pay his legal fees and support his family after his parents were out of work because of Covid lockdowns.

Kyle Richardson, 20, of Liverpool, gave evidence at his sentence hearing at Gosford District Court on Thursday after pleading guilty to driving while suspended and aggravated dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm while “very substantially impaired” by MDMA and cocaine.

An agreed set of facts states Richardson was 18 when he was seen travelling erratically about 160km/h in a 90km/h zone on the M1 motorway at 9.40am on May 4 last year before crashing into a rock wall at Mooney Mooney.

Richardson has pleaded guilty to driving while suspended and dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm. Picture: Facebook

The force of the “catastrophic” collision caused the car to ricochet back into lane one and the front nearside wheel was “torn from the vehicle”.

“The engine of the vehicle was also torn from the supports and travelled across three lanes of traffic before coming to rest on the western shoulder,” the facts state.

The car continued sliding out of control for another 155m.

Richardson’s then 18-year-old girlfriend was trapped in the wreckage of the blue Volkswagen hatchback before being taken to Royal North Shore Hospital with shattered ankles and mid-shaft femur fractures in both legs which required the insertion of metal rods.

Richardson was drug tested and a forensic pharmacologist’s report found he was in the “toxic” range of impairment by MDMA and to a lesser extent cocaine.

The crash on the southbound lanes of the motorway caused heavy traffic. (File photo)

Richardson told the court he consumed MDMA about 7am on the morning of the crash and he was heading back to Sydney from Toukley, unaware of how impaired he actually was.

“That’s how messed up I was on the drugs,” he said.

“The amount I took was ridiculous.”

Richardson told the court while he had stopped taking any illegal drugs he did supply drugs to help pay “legal fees” and to help his parents who had been stood down from work during Covid lockdowns.

Documents tendered to court state he was charged on January 7 with supplying a prohibited drug and dealing with the proceeds of crime.

He was later sentenced in Fairfield Local Court on January 21 to a community corrections order for two years and fined $2000.

Richardson appeared in person at Gosford District Court. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Swift

“The only way I thought I could make money was doing the wrong thing,” Richardson said at his sentence hearing.

Richardson said he now hated drugs because “they destroyed my life” and he was sorry “to this day” about hurting his girlfriend who now lived with him at a rented Liverpool apartment.

“It breaks my heart to see what she’s gone through,” he said.

His barrister Luke Brasch submitted Richardson had spent a total of about six months in custody following the crash and when he was again refused bail for drug supply.

He said with time served Richardson could spend the rest of his sentence by way of an intensive corrections order (ICO).

However the prosecution argued an ICO was not appropriate given the speed, the level of impairment and the danger to other road users.

Judge Tanya Bright described his offending as a “complete abandonment of responsibility” before adjourning the matter to January 28 when she will deliver her remarks on sentence.

Richardson’s bail was continued.