Court hears details of Old Beach crash that claimed life of 15-year-old Brianna Waddington

A LEARNER driver who killed a teenage girl and injured his other passenger in a single-vehicle crash at Old Beach lives in shame every day, a court has heard.

Mother of Brianna Waddington, who died in the crash, Tracy Millhouse (pink T-shirt), leave court. Jade Jaye Sward is in the Supreme Court today to be sentenced over causing death by dangerous driving and causing grievous bodily harm by dangerous driving.

A LEARNER driver who killed a teenage girl and injured his other passenger in a single-vehicle crash at Old Beach lives in shame every day, a court has heard.

Jade Jaye Sward, 21, of Gagebrook, has pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving and causing grievous bodily harm by dangerous driving.

The Supreme Court in Hobart on Friday heard Sward had been drinking for about 15 hours before the early morning crash on July 1 last year that killed Brianna Waddington.

“This is a serious example of the offence. The accused was an inexperienced driver who shouldn’t have been driving at all,” Director of Public Prosecutions Daryl Coates, SC, said.

“He’d been awake all night, he was observed driving in a careless and erratic manner,”

Mr Coates said Sward had a blood alcohol reading of 0.135.

The court heard Sward was with a friend on the afternoon and night of June 30. The friend was driving and the pair picked Brianna up from her Moonah home about 9pm.

“She told her mother, Tracy Millhouse, she was going out to get a coffee and she would only be an hour or so,” Mr Coates said.

While still in Moonah, the driver of the car became involved in an altercation and was assaulted, Mr Coates said.

After the assault Sward, who held a learner’s licence, became the driver and the three went to various car parks and parks, spending time at each location before moving on.

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Brianna Waddington was just 15 when she died in a car accident.

The court heard alcohol was consumed throughout the night and the three were at Brighton just before dawn.

It was while Sward was driving them from Brighton to his father’s home at Glenorchy that the crash happened.

Mr Coates said Sward lost control of the car while negotiating a sweeping left hand corner on Baskerville Rd, Old Beach, about 6am.

He said the car ran off the road and through a fence. The roof of the car hit a power pole. Brianna was sitting on the back seat.

“The roof of the car had caved in directly over her head,” Mr Coates said.

He said Brianna’s injuries were such that she would have died almost instantly.

The court heard Sward, the only one of the three wearing a seatbelt, was the first to regain consciousness after the crash.

Mr Coates said Sward pulled the other man from the car and placed him in a recovery position

Mr Coates said that man received potentially life-threatening injuries but has made a full recovery.

Tracy Millhouse, left, the mother of Brianna Waddington, leaving the court on Friday.

Sward was unable to help Brianna, who had to be cut from the vehicle.

Mr Coates said crash investigators calculated that after Sward applied the brakes, the car was travelling at 86km/h before it left the road.

The speed limit was 70km/h.

Sward’s lawyer, Dexter Marcenko, said his client had taken full responsibility for his actions from the beginning.

“Mr Sward is sincerely remorseful to the greatest possible extent,” Mr Marcenko said.

“He fully appreciates that what he did was inexcusable and that he alone caused Miss Waddington’s death … He lives in shame every single day.”

Mr Marcenko said Sward passed by the area where the crash happened each day on his way to and from work “and does so in solemn silence”.

The court heard Sward wrote an apology to Brianna’s mother, Ms Millhouse.

“He wrote that he would do anything to change places with Miss Waddington and that remains the case,” Mr Marcenko said.

Mr Marcenko said Sward also offered to apologise to Ms Millhouse in person and answer any of her questions, an offer she accepted.

“[Sward] was grateful for the opportunity to apologise and share a hug,” Mr Marcenko said.

He said Sward was also grateful for the forgiveness his other passenger expressed to him.

Mr Marcenko said Sward was “so sickened by the effect of his driving that night [of the crash] he’s not driven at all since July [last year]”.

In a victim impact statement read to the court by Mr Coates, Ms Millhouse said she battled the loss of her daughter — who died 18 days before her 16th birthday — every single day.

Ms Millhouse said since Brianna’s death she suffered depressive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.

She said she continued to have flashbacks of the police telling her about the crash.

“The look on their faces has never left me,” she said.

Ms Millhouse said Brianna’s five siblings were all struggling with the loss of their sister.

“The trauma and loss has destroyed every one of us. No family should have to go through what we’ve been going through,” she said.

Mr Marcenko said Sward, who has been on bail since he was charged, was “desperate to atone for his offending”.

“He feels an immense sense of guilt being free,” Mr Marcenko said.

Mr Marcenko said Sward, who will not be sentenced until October 18, wanted to be remanded in custody rather than have his bail continued.

Justice Gregory Geason remanded Sward in custody.