Porsche driver Richard Pusey pleads guilty to disgusting act after Eastern Freeway crash
The Porsche driver who filmed and taunted a police officer as she died after a horrific crash that killed four officers has pleaded guilty to three charges in court.
The Porsche driver involved in the horrific Eastern Freeway crash that killed four police officers has admitted his disgusting acts in court.
Richard Pusey pleaded guilty in the County Court of Victoria on Wednesday to charges relating to the April crash when a truck driver ploughed into four officers who had pulled Pusey over for speeding.
Before Pusey entered his pleas he took a deep breath and sighed.
“Guilty,” the 42-year-old told Judge Trevor Wraight on Wednesday morning when asked to enter his plea at an arraignment.
He admitted outraging public decency when he committed an “act of an obscene or disgusting nature” for filming police officer Leading Senior Constable Lynette Taylor as she was dying on the road.
He reportedly said “now you’ve f***ed my f***ing car” and “all I wanted to do was go home and have some sushi” and took two video recordings on his phone as the police officer took her final breaths.
Pusey also pleaded guilty to possessing drugs of dependence, including ketamine and MDMA, a day after the fatal crash and one count of reckless conduct endangering injury by driving at high speed on March 21, 2020.
Defence barrister Dermot Dann QC argued the Pusey should be given “very significant credit” for pleading guilty to the outraging public decency charge.
“Without his effort or decision to resolve this matter, the potential for this matter to drag on for years was very much apparent,” Mr Dann said.
The lawyer told the court he planned to argue Pusey should not face any additional jail time for the charge and should be released following his plea hearing at the end of the month. His client had also faced “very difficult circumstances” in the past two weeks.
The public will likely never hear how Pusey’s crimes impacted on the police officers’ families. The judge told the court because of the wording of the charge they would be unlikely to make victim impact statements.
Wearing a green prison jumper and a blue mask, Pusey appeared over video link from the Melbourne Remand Centre, where he remains in custody after his bail was revoked in December. He is facing separate criminal charges in relation to allegations he allegedly put a noose around a woman’s neck.
The Porsche driver had initially indicated he was willing to plead guilty to charges at a hearing last month but Judge Wraight put a gag order over the proceedings.
His lawyer Mr Dann said during a hearing on February 15 the only way to resolve the case and to stop it from “dragging through this court” and others was if his client were to plead guilty.
Judge Wraight described Pusey’s offending as “reprehensible” at an earlier hearing.
On April 22, 2020, Pusey was pulled over for speeding in his Porsche on the Eastern Freeway in Kew, in Melbourne’s East.
Four police officers attended: Constable Lynette Taylor, First Constable Glen Humphris, Senior Constable Kevin King and Constable Josh Prestney.
The police officers were standing in the emergency lane while Pusey was urinating on an embankment away from the road.
About 5.35pm truck driver Mohinder Singh ploughed into the scene in a prime mover, killing the four officers.
Singh was on an ice bender, hadn’t slept in days and was hallucinating about a witch, he later told police.
The truck driver pleaded guilty on December to 10 charges, including four counts of culpable driving causing death, as well as drug trafficking and ammunition charges, and will be sentenced at a later date.
Connect Logistics boss Simiona Tuteru, who is accused of allowing Singh on the road despite his drug-affected state, is fighting four charges of manslaughter relating to the crash.
Pusey was initially charged with more than a dozen offences but was never charged over the officers’ deaths.
Pusey will next appear for a plea hearing in the County Court on March 31.
More to come.