Timothy Joel Werps: Bendigo teen sentenced over ‘horrific’ crash

A friend begged a Bendigo teen not to drive before he got in the car and crashed at high-speed, killing one best friend and leaving the other with a lifelong brain injury.

A Bendigo teenager has been sentenced over a fatal crash which killed a close mate and left his “best friend” with a lifelong brain injury.

Timothy Joel Werps, 19, had spent more than six hours drinking and smoking cannabis with friends when he decided to drive into the Bendigo CBD to buy food at 3am on September 28 last year.

Despite one friend refusing to get in the car after an earlier trip to buy drugs saw Werps drive at up to 200km/h, and pleading with him not to go, he left the house with friends Jye Eiffert, 16, and Benjamin Hart, 18.

The P-plater, then a year 12 student at Bendigo Senior Secondary College, lost control around a slight bend 10 minutes later, slamming into a power pole on McCrae St at about 160km/h.

The vehicle came to a rest in the front yard of a house, where Goornong teen Jye Eiffert, who was not wearing a seatbelt, died at the scene after suffering fatal head injuries.

Timothy Werps, 19, pleaded guilty to culpable driving causing the death of 16-year-old Jye Eiffert in a horror crash on McCrae St, Bendigo.

Front seat passenger Benjamin Hart, suffered a severe traumatic brain injury as well as extensive trauma to his head, abdomen, back, chest and pelvis.

He was flown to Royal Melbourne Hospital where doctors say he would have died without immediate medical intervention.

Benjamin spent the next two months in hospital, undergoing eight surgeries and many more months of outpatient care.

Werps reappeared in the County Court on Thursday for sentencing after pleading guilty the day before to culpable driving causing death and negligent driving causing serious injury.

He escaped the crash with minor injuries, initially telling police he wasn’t the driver.

An hour later his blood was tested at Bendigo hospital and was found to have a 0.126g/L BAC and “very high” concentrations of THC.

Speaking in court, Benjamin Hart said he felt “broken” by the crash and continued to suffer health problems to this day.

“We were best mates,” he said. “I feel partially responsible, I got in the car, I didn’t tell Jye to wear a seatbelt and I didn’t tell Tim to slow down.”

“I suffer from anger, guilt and overwhelming loss.”

More than 10 family and friends of Jye Eiffert and Benjamin Hart provided victim impact statements to the court detailing how the crash had left them “completely broken”.

Jye’s father, Adrian Eiffert, said the death of his only son had “destroyed his life”.

“I was so proud of him, so proud of my boy. He was a great and honest kid with a great future ahead of him which is now gone,” he said.

“The reason I‘m here is because of the irresponsible and selfish decisions you made that night. You didn’t just change one life, you changed so many.”

His sister Zoey described Jye as “loving and inquisitive” with a cheeky smile.

“His time was horrifically cut short,” she said. “I’ve been robbed of my purpose, my best friend … I’ve witnessed my family slip away never to be saved.”

She said Werps had never shown remorse or apologised for causing his death, and she believed she could never forgive someone who “so violently neglected his safety”.

A teenage boy killed in a horror car crash in Bendigo was a talented sportsman who loved his friends and family.

Defence lawyer James Anderson conceded Werps was facing a “lengthy” term of imprisonment but said he would live with the pain of causing this crash for the rest of his life.

“While he never intended for any of these consequences to happen, he’s extremely remorseful and will have to live with this,” he said.

Judge John Smallwood said it was clear the Werps had caused “dreadful damage” to the Bendigo community.

“He couldn‘t have done much more wrong,” he said. “The horrific consequences to the family and friends of both Jye and Ben are plain to see.”

“This is what young men do when affected by drugs and alcohol, it has to stop. Boys of your age seem to think they’re bullet proof, there’s no concept of mortality”

He said it was clear Werps felt remorse about his actions, but his strict bail conditions preventing him from speaking to anyone involved or posting about the crash on social media had “given the community the wrong idea”.

“Trials such as this are devastating to everyone involved,” he said.

Werps was sentenced to nine years and three months on both charges and will be eligible for parole in late 2026.