Warwick Mirzikinian: Poker champ killed Julien Trameaux in UberEats crash
A remorseful champion poker player and Sydney socialite offered to pay for the funeral of a French food delivery cyclist he killed in a car crash at Double Bay two years ago.
Central Sydney
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A remorseful champion poker player and Sydney socialite offered to pay for the funeral of a French food delivery cyclist he killed in a car crash at Double Bay two years ago.
Warwick Mirzikinian has pleaded guilty to an act of dangerous driving occasioning the death of 24-year-old Julien Trameaux, when his Tesla collided with the UberEATS rider’s bicycle in November 2017.
Mirzikinian of Point Piper, who lives a stone’s throw from former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in Sydney’s most exclusive suburb, could soon trade his lavish home for life behind bars.
Wearing a crisp, dark suit the 50-year-old high roller entered his plea before Judge Chris O’Brien on Wednesday, with the admission vacating an expected trial.
Agreed facts reveal the professional gambler was driving west in his luxury Tesla P100 on New South Head Rd, Double Bay near Henrietta St about 6.30pm on November 13, 2017 when he dangerously moved across three lanes and collided with the rear of Mr Trameaux’s bike.
The French national slammed into the car’s windscreen with the impact throwing him “some distance” onto the road, the facts state.
Mirzikinian’s brother Danny and nephew James were in the car at the time and were uninjured.
The distressed card player attempted to render first aid and was later seen by witnesses to be sat crying on a nearby wall.
Mr Trameaux was wearing Air Pods and had a large food delivery bag on his back at the time, potentially limiting his vision and awareness, the facts state.
Two-off duty doctors who witnessed the incident rushed to perform CPR on the young man who had blood coming from his ears and nose, but he could not be revived.
Post-mortem tests found he had suffered a fractured skull, shoulder and ribs. Images taken of the scene showed his mangled bike lying by the side of the busy eastern suburbs thoroughfare.
Mirzikinian told witnesses and police he was “blinded” by the setting sun. The agreed facts stated an expert described the conditions for a driver facing west at that point of New South Head Rd at the time was “like looking into a bright light”.
It can be revealed he attended Rose Bay police station in tears the next day to ask about the victim.
The millionaire later offered to pay for the funeral of Mr Trameaux and fly his family out to Australia, but that was declined.
The 24-year-old labourer and part-time courier was described by friends as an “optimistic and positive” young man who dreamed of opening a bakery in Sydney.
Mirzikinian has continued his successful poker career while on bail for the crash, having first been arrested when he presented to Rose Bay police station on February 18, 2018.
He won more than $324,000 at a no-limit hold‘em event last July, a career-best haul on the World Series of Poker tour, according to website cardplayer.com.
The website estimates his total ‘casino winnings’ to be $991,769, while another poker database The Hendon Mob puts his ‘live earnings’ to be just over $1.1 million.
A former mobile phone entrepreneur, his social circles include some of Sydney’s biggest movers and shakers and his wife Kristy is a close friend of PR queen Roxy Jacenko.
Mirzikinian’s fate will be decided when Judge O’Brien hands down a sentence on July 19.