Cocaine driver jailed over 150km/h bottle shop run crash that maimed three
A motorist who crashed a borrowed Mercedes at 150km/h while high on cocaine has been jailed after leaving four people with horrific injuries.
A motorist high on cocaine and booze when he crashed a luxury car after hitting up to 150km/h on suburban streets during a bottle shop run that left three people fighting for their lives with horrific injuries has been jailed.
The force of the two-car crash in Forest Lake last year saw the engine ripped from the chassis of the Mercedes-Benz CLA45 AMG coupe the offender had borrowed, Brisbane’s District Court heard on Thursday.
Jacobus Devon Vanderkruk pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm while intoxicated and excessively speeding and drunk and drug driving.
On the night of the crash Vanderkruk was at a party when he volunteered to drive to the bottle shop in a friend’s car taking three passengers.
The 28-year-old, who had consumed cocaine and alcohol, hit speeds of between 120km/h and 150km/h along 60km streets prompting his panicked passengers to ask him to slow down, the court heard.
He collided with a Toyota LandCruiser driven by a 52-year-old woman who was “quite innocently” returning home, Judge David Kent said.
“There were extensive injuries caused to four people … but surgical intervention avoided death for at least three,” he said.
“The motor was literally torn out of the Mercedes … the forces involved were staggeringly high.”
A 20-year-old female passenger lost a kidney, suffered spinal fractures and had to have some colon removed. A 22-year-old male passenger had a torn lung, fractured ribs and sternum, and bleeding in his bowel and abdomen.
The other male passenger, also 22, had a broken arm and an “extremely serious injury” and would have died without medical intervention.
The other driver had ankle fractures, a subdural haematoma, a right lung contusion, a hemothorax and soft tissue injuries.
Vanderkruk, who was found with cocaine in his system and had an estimated blood alcohol level of at least 0.08 when he crashed, also suffered injuries including a fractured femur. He remains on crutches and has developed PTSD.
Judge Kent said Vanderkruk’s letter of apology was among the best he’d seen and accepted he was “very remorseful”.
He noted Vanderkruk, who pleaded guilty early, had a bad traffic history.
A report tendered to the court found he was a low risk of reoffending which Judge Kent accepted if Vanderkruk addressed his alcohol problem that had developed from the crash.
He said it was “peripherally relevant” that the victims would very likely be compensated through personal injury litigation.
Vanderkruk was sentenced to five years’ jail suspended after 18 months and disqualified from driving for five years.
Originally published as Cocaine driver jailed over 150km/h bottle shop run crash that maimed three
