Man admits causing fatal crash

A Chinese tourist killed three people and injured five, including himself, when he swerved his rental car to avoid another vehicle on a gravel road near Tekapo.

Lai Xu, 50, walked with the aid of crutches to the dock in the Dunedin District Court yesterday.

Through his lawyer, Anne Stevens QC, and aided by a translator, he pleaded guilty to three counts of careless driving causing death and four of careless driving causing injury.

Xu was touring New Zealand with his wife and several of her family members when they were involved in a head-on crash on Braemar Rd on March 8

The police summary of facts said Xu was driving a rented Toyota Estima on the gravel road and tried to swerve to avoid an approaching vehicle.

However he instinctively pulled the steering wheel to the right, as he would in China, causing the crash.

The three Chinese nationals who died in the crash were Yuyan Li, 74, of Sichuan, and Fuhe Li, 75, and Jin Zhang, 75, of Chongqing. All were passengers in the rear seat.

Xu’s wife was seriously injured in the

He [Lai Xu] instinctively pulled the steering wheel to the right, as he would in China, causing the crash.

Police summary of facts

crash, and three people in the other vehicle were also hurt, one with extensive fractures.

Judge Michael Turner ordered Xu, a resident of Sichuan in China, not to drive while he was in New Zealand.

The court heard he was making arrangements to send his inlaws’ bodies back to China.

Stuff was granted permission to take Xu’s photograph inside the courtroom, but Stevens said Xu was concerned there could be ramifications for his employment in China if his picture was published.

Judge Turner then deferred the media application decision, which would be discussed when Xu appeared in the Timaru District Court for sentencing on June 20. The decision does not apply to photographs taken outside of court.