Wyongah: Kody John Clenton sentenced over horror afternoon smash
A P-plater has narrowly avoided jail after crashing a car while on a cocktail of drugs, fracturing an elderly woman’s spine, only to be picked up months later, again drug-driving.
Central Coast
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A P-plater will have to abstain from drugs and alcohol for two years under conditions imposed by a sentence that will see the now 20-year-old avoid spending any time in jail.
Kody John Clenton, of Budgewoi, faced Gosford District Court on Friday after pleading guilty to one count of dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm.
A further five charges, including driving under the influence of drugs, were withdrawn and dismissed.
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.
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.
The court heard four months later in May, 2020, Clenton was detected again driving with illicit drugs present in his system.
Judge Tanya Bright said the fact he had taken MDMA the night before, smoked cannabis that morning and driven a distance of more than 8km before crashing 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.
Judge Bright sentenced Clenton to an intensive corrections order (ICO) for two years.
An ICO is seen by the courts as the equivalent of a custodial sentence but served within the community.
Conditions of his sentence includes Clenton must serve 12 months under home detention and abstain from drugs or alcohol for the full two years.
He was also disqualified from driving for three years.
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