Dwayne Leon Joel Mitchell found guilty by jury for the death of Dylan Donohue in 2018

A man has been found guilty of causing the death of his mate when he barrel rolled his ute while driving to Townsville intoxicated.

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A man has been found guilty of causing the death of his mate when he barrel rolled his ute while driving to Townsville intoxicated.

Dwayne Leon Joel Mitchell, 24, was found guilty by a jury on Thursday in the Townsville District Court of one count of dangerous operation of a vehicle causing death while adversely affected by an intoxicating substance.

Mitchell was on trial for the death of Dylan Donohue, 25, who died from a 32cm laceration to his head sustained after Mitchell rolled his Toyota LandCruiser on the Bruce Highway south of Alligator Creek on July 29, 2018.

A third passenger, Ian Pope, 26, was found alive inside the ute.

It took the jury 23 hours to return the guilty verdict.

Throughout the three-day trial, the jury heard witness accounts of Mitchell admitting he was the driver of the vehicle and “killing them” in the moments after the crash.

Crown prosecutor Aaron Dunkerton called Lee Newham to give evidence, who told the jury he heard Mitchell confess to crashing his ute as he helped him on the side of the highway.

“He got quite emotional saying, 'I’ve killed them, I’ve killed them’,” Mr Newham said.

“He would sit back down, but then he would get emotionally distraught again and stand up and he indicated to me at one of those points he had been driving the vehicle and he had been stupid for what he had done.”

Joseph Giddy explained how he stopped at the crash scene and saw Mitchell blame himself.

“He was punching himself in the side of the head and he was also punching the concrete cylinder and he just kept saying it’s his fault, it’s his fault,” he said.

Dwayne John Joel Mitchell. PICTURE: MATT TAYLOR.

Three witnesses told how they believed Mitchell had overtaken their vehicles driving at speeds of between 140km/h and 160km/h leading up to the crash just after 8pm.

The jury heard the LandCruiser had been assessed and was determined to be in a satisfactory mechanical condition prior to the crash.

Body camera footage captured by Constable Jacob Howlett was played for the jury on day two of the trial.

The footage showed Queensland ambulance officer Christina Griffiths tending to Mr Mitchell who was laying on a roadside concrete sewerage manhole.

Mitchell is heard to tell Ms Griffiths he had been drinking “bundy” during the night.

At one point Mitchell responds to Ms Griffiths, telling her he was “old enough to be dumb enough” after she asks him his age.

The footage also showed Constable Howlett asking Mitchell if he was the driver of the car as he lay in the back of the ambulance.

Mitchell is seen to give a thumbs up to Constable Howlett’s question.

The jury heard a blood sample was taken from Mitchell when he arrived at hospital.

Dr Ian Home testified in court he estimated Mitchell’s blood alcohol concentration to have been between .156 and .206 at the time of the roll over.

Mitchell will be sentenced on February 18.

Originally published as Dwayne Leon Joel Mitchell found guilty by jury for the death of Dylan Donohue in 2018