Craig Elliott high on drugs crashed car at Woolooware, injured friends

An expectant father will have to wait two more weeks to learn if he will go to jail for crashing into a parked car in south Sydney, leaving a friend with life-threatening injuries.

Craig Elliott drove while high on drugs when he crashed his car, injuring his friend - who needed life saving surgery - and his girlfriend in Woolooware earlier this year. Picture: Ashleigh Tullis

A young man high on a drug cocktail including liquid ecstasy and meth got behind the wheel and crashed into a parked car, seriously injuring his girlfriend and friend.

Craig Elliott, 27, was due to be sentenced in Sutherland Local Court on Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm while under the influence and causing bodily harm by misconduct in charge of a motor vehicle.

Agreed facts said the Yarrawarrah man, who was unemployed at the time, was driving a white Kia Stonic on The Kingsway in Woolooware with his girlfriend and a friend about 11.45pm on April 29.

Elliott collided with the rear of a parked Toyota ute, and his car went underneath the tray, before the ute was pushed forward, hitting another car.

Elliott and his two passengers got out of the car, and emergency services were called.

His friend suffered serious injuries and was taken to St George Hospital to undergo immediate surgery for life-threatening injuries.

Elliott’s girlfriend suffered less serious injuries but had fractured ribs and lower vertebrae.

Craig Elliott will be sentenced in two weeks at Sutherland Local Court.

Elliott was taken to Sutherland Hospital for mandatory testing after he failed a drug test, and his licence was suspended.

Drugs were seized from Elliott and the car.

On May 6, Elliott attended Sutherland Police Station, where he admitted to consuming 3g of meth, 3mls of GBH and one Xanax at a friend’s house in Crows Nest in the hours before getting behind the wheel and driving to Woolooware.

In court, Elliott’s lawyer submitted an intensive correction order rather than sending him to jail would be the “most appropriate penalty” due to the rehabilitation he had completed.

She said he was a “changed man” after almost losing his girlfriend due to his actions.

“The reality is this is a young man and, according to his criminal record, was on a self-destructive path. He was at war with himself and the rest of the world,” the lawyer said.

She said he had completed his rehabilitation and had not touched drugs since the day of the crash.

“He has excellent prospects of rehabilitation. He is unlikely to re-offend,” the lawyer said.

The court heard Elliott had new employment, his girlfriend, who supported him in court, was pregnant, and he was “at a turning point, and he had learnt his lesson”.

She said Elliott lived with the consequences of his actions every day, adding he showed significant remorse and acknowledged the impact of the trauma on the victims.

The lawyer noted the injuries to the friend were very serious at the time but had no lasting consequences.

Magistrate Phillip Stewart said he needed more time to consider the sentence, weighing up whether to send Elliott into full-time custody or allow him to serve a jail sentence in the community through an intensive correction order.

Elliott will be sentenced on December 12.