Blue Mountains: Passenger ride in ute tray lands driver in court
It began as a night out with mates from Blue Mountains International Hotel Management School and ended up with two people in hospital with serious injuries.
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It began as a night out with mates from Blue Mountains International Hotel Management School and ended up with two people in hospital after the ute they were travelling in hit a garbage bin, brick wall and then, finally, a tree.
One of the injured was riding unrestrained in the tray of the ute when it crashed, Katoomba Local Court heard.
The 20-year-old unlicensed driver — Dean Jeff Guy Bergey, of Mosman — pleaded guilty in court to the charges of: unlicensed driving, drive with passenger in/on part of vehicle not enclosed, and negligent driving (occasioning grievous bodily harm).
Magistrate James Gibson said “it’s lucky he got ‘negligence’ and not ‘dangerous driving’”, which is a far more serious charge carrying a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment — before slapping him with a $100 for driving without a licence, a $344 fine for driving with a person in the back of a ute, and a 12-month community corrections order, in addition to suspending his license for a year.
“I’m also imposing 50 hours of community service work,” Magistrate Gibson said. “I think you’ve got to make right the harm you’ve done to the community.”
Bergey is from France, studying on a visa at the international school.
The former Leura resident has never held a license.
And while Magistrate Gibson sympathised with the defence’s argument that the driving system is different in Paris, he could not ignore Bergey was swerving “with someone in the back of the ute unrestrained”.
And according to the full fact sheet, Bergey was aware that it was an offence to carry a passenger in the rear utility compartment of a vehicle.
Documents tendered to court say Bergey and three other students from the international school were at a social gathering at Sublime Point, Leura, on the night of September 3 when they went to buy alcohol in a borrowed Toyota Hilux.
Bergey drove on the way back with a classmate in the front passenger seat, one in the back, and another in the ute tray.
The man in the ute tray was the only one not wearing a seatbelt when Bergey, driving 60- to 65-kmph west along Sublime Point Rd, began “swerving the vehicle within the lane in an attempt of humour” and then “lost control” on a right-hand bend, “causing the rear left to collide with a garbage bin and then a brick wall.”
“This caused the vehicle to swerve to the right, cross to the opposite side of the road and collide with a tree,” the full facts said.
As a result of the crash, the front passenger sustained a broken arm requiring corrective surgery and the passenger in the ute tray sustained serious but not life-threatening injuries.
Both were taken to Katoomba Hospital by a witness.
Another passenger sustained minor injuries.
Police subjected Bergey to a roadside breath test which returned a negative result.
Bergey’s defence solicitor told the court, “he’s gone to drive because he’s the person not affected by alcohol”.
He asked for some leniency from the court for his client because he had paid to complete a traffic offenders program.
“Hopefully that will instil some more (driving) knowledge,” he said, adding that his client works at two restaurants in Sydney while completing university and earns between $500 and $600 a week.
“There was $2000 in damage to the vehicle,” Bergey’s defence solicitor said.
“He (Bergey) understands the ramifications of what he did could have ended up a lot worse.”
Asked by the magistrate if he’d like to comment, the prosecutor said: “It’s all there in the facts.”
In his sentencing remarks, Magistrate Gibson said he had taken into account Bergey is “working hard to finish his hotel management courses” and has no priors.
“But the community needs to know there’s been some punishment placed upon you,” Magistrate Gibson said.
A fourth charge, negligent driving (no death or grievous bodily harm), was withdrawn.