Ex-Channel 7 journo’s drink-driving shame revealed

The fall from grace of a former Channel 7 reporter that led to the death of his friend in a Champagne-fuelled high-speed crash has been revealed.

A former Channel 7 journalist’s shocking driving record has been revealed as he apologised for killing his mate in a champagne-fuelled high-speed crash.

Trent Evans, 45, is facing up to 20 years in jail after pleading guilty to culpable driving causing the death of Rex Willox when he sped at 112km/h in a 60km/h zone and lost control in Burnley on February 27 last year.

Evans was driving Mr Willox’s Mercedes and claims his drunk friend in the passenger seat was egging him to “go fast” when the vehicle spun out of control on Barkly St, slammed into a power pole, before rolling and landing back on its tyres.

Mr Willox, 44, was killed instantly.

Former Channel 7 journalist Trent Evans has pleaded guilty to culpable driving causing the death of his friend Rex Willox. Picture: Instagram

The pair had only got in the car two minutes earlier at Mr Willox’s Toorak home, where they had been on a bubbly bender, downing at least three bottles of champagne over about four hours.

Evans later told police he chose to drive over Mr Willox because he thought he was the “more sober” of the two.

He had a blood alcohol reading of 0.13 per cent – more than double the legal limit.

A pre-sentencing hearing in the County Court on Thursday heard it was not Evans’ first time getting behind the wheel while under the influence.

His rap sheet includes three convictions for drink-driving, as well as a series of speeding offences.

The court heard one reading in 2005 was so high – in excess of 0.10 per cent – that he was given a 12-month suspended sentence and stripped of his licence for four years.

In May 2004, a magistrate also fined him and disqualified him from driving for 12 months after he blew 0.062 per cent.

Defence barrister Rahmin de Kretser said the drink-driving priors were relevant but dated back some 16 years between 2003 and 2005.

Ex-Channel 7 reporter Trent Evans.

Mr de Kretser outlined Evans’s epic fall from grace from being a successful journalist in both print and TV across Victoria and Queensland whose work had been recognised, to finding himself drug dependent, jobless and homeless.

“The offending occurred during a period that can only be described as the lowest ebb in Mr Evans’ life,” Mr de Kretser said.

He said Evans was living a “chaotic lifestyle” with periods of homelessness after returning to Melbourne in 2017 after struggling to cope with the demands of his TV reporting role in Queensland.

“It’s been a downward spiral in the last five years,” Mr de Kretser said.

“He became more and more unstable with drug use.”

Evans was not working at the time of the crash, but on leaving journalism he had taken up being a disc jockey known as “DJ Trentè” at Melbourne nightclubs.

He also performed alongside ’90s pop duo Bachelor Girl in 2019, and appeared as an extra in the Ride Like a Girl film, which told the story of Michelle Payne’s Melbourne Cup victory.

Mr de Kretser said Evans was now a “broken man” who was “deeply remorseful and genuinely sorry” for his actions.

“He will carry the burden of being responsible for Mr Willox’s death for the rest of his life,” he said.

He said Evans had accepted he would be locked up for a lengthy period, with culpable driving carrying a maximum penalty of 20 years jail.

Evans will be sentenced at a later date.