Warnervale: Mark Reginald Commane charged after horror crash
A punter who had spent a day at the races was allegedly seen swerving on the freeway before ploughing into a broken down car and “degloving” the owner’s foot, a court has heard.
Central Coast
Don't miss out on the headlines from Central Coast. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A punter who had spent a day at the races was allegedly seen swerving on the freeway before ploughing into a broken down car and “degloving” the owner’s foot, a court has heard.
Mark Reginald Commane, 44, of Gwandalan, was excused from attending Wyong Local Court on Monday where he is facing three charges of dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm, negligent driving occasioning grievous bodily harm and negligent driving.
Police will allege in court Mr Commane was heading north on the M1 motorway when witnesses became so concerned about his alleged manner of driving they contacted triple-0 and one began recording him on their mobile phone.
One witness in a car travelling behind later told police they were going to take the Sparks Rd exit but they were so concerned they kept following him.
Police were told Mr Commane’s car was seen allegedly to veer from the middle lane into the far right lane and back before completely drifting left across all lanes.
Charge sheets allege Mr Commane’s car crossed the solid white line and into the breakdown lane where it collided with a Volkswagen Polo at 6.13pm on February 22.
The Polo had broken down about 1.5km north of the Sparks Rd exit.
As a result of the collision the Polo was pushed into the concrete barrier crushing the owner’s foot, leaving it “degloved” and with multiple fractures.
One of Mr Commane’s front wheels ripped off in the collision and ricocheted back across all three lanes of traffic before coming to rest in the median strip.
He was taken to Wyong Police Station where he underwent a breath test, which returned a reading of 0.045 — under the legal limit.
He participated in an electronically recorded interview where he told police he had been at Gosford Races earlier and had consumed eight schooners of full strength beer since about midday.
He denied taking illicit drugs and was taken to Wyong Hospital for mandatory blood and urine testing.
The injured Polo driver was taken to John Hunter Hospital in a serious condition for emergency surgery to his foot.
The court heard the Crown Prosecutor’s office was considering taking carriage of the matter from police and was seeking a short two-week adjournment to reach its decision.
Mr Commane’s solicitor, leading Central Coast criminal lawyer Bobby Locker, asked for his client to be excused on Monday and on the next occasion because he had “amputated his toe” the day before in an unrelated incident.
The matter was adjourned to March 31.
Bandidos bikie on bond for dealing cocaine allegedly busted again
An outlaw motorcycle gang member who was sentenced to a bond for supplying 74g of cocaine was allegedly nabbed again, this time supplying more than 2.2kg of the drug, a court has heard.
Read more
Creepy stepdad hid GoPro to film girl’s ‘growth’
A man who was on a cocktail of cannabis and alcohol when he planted a GoPro camera to film his stepdaughter showering, said it was to see her “growth” and not “sexual”.
Read more