An elderly man from the Tweed Shire who pleaded not guilty to his involvement in a crash which killed a 22 year-old has been placed on a suspended jail sentence.
Edwin Patrick Jessop was driving his white 1994 Toyota Hilux ute home after renewing its registration about 10.15 am on October 24 when he came to the intersection of Numinbah Road and Couchy Creek Road.
Agreed police facts before the court stated Mr Jessop, who was 87 at the time of the crash, turned into the t-intersection, across the path of motorcyclist Dann Jenkins.
The 22 year-old, who was riding his red and black Suzuki GSXR motorcycle, with a number of other motorcyclists, swerved to the left of Mr Jessop’s ute but collided with the passenger door and the rear tray.
Mr Jenkin’s helmet struck the tray of the ute before he was thrown onto the road, witnesses told police.
Mr Jessop continued across the intersection and stopped immediately, then a number of motorcycle riders stopped and Mr Jenkins was found dead at the scene.
A post mortem examination confirmed Mr Jenkins cause of death was a closed head injury.
Blood tests conducted on Mr Jenkins revealed he had no alcohol or drugs in his blood at the time of the incident.
Following the crash, Mr Jessop was taken to Murwillumbah Hospital for mandatory testing, which returned negative results for both alcohol and drugs.
The court heard Mr Jessop underwent testing in July 2016 as a condition of continuing to hold a drivers licence.
The testing revealed Mr Jessop’s ‘vision meets standards’ and he ‘meets the medical criteria for an unconditional licence.’
Hours after the crash, Mr Jessop told police he did not see the motorcycle at the intersection.
‘I got half way around and bang,’ Mr Jessop told police.
Mr Jessop was charged with dangerous driving occasioning death, negligent driving occasioning death and not giving way to a vehicle while turning right into a terminating road.
On September 19 in Lismore Local Court he entered a not guilty plea to the charge of dangerous driving occasioning death.
When his solicitor lodged a document with the court waiving his right to a committal hearing, Mr Jessop’s matters were adjourned for arraignment in the District Court on November 1.
At Lismore District Court in November, the charge of dangerous driving occasioning death against Mr Jessop was dropped by the prosecution and his remaining matters were adjourned to the Local Court for sentencing.
On Monday, Mr Benn appeared in Lismore Local Court where he was placed on a nine moth suspended sentence by Magistrate David Heilpern.
Mr Jessop was also disqualified from driving for three years.
