Driver in deadly duel thought race over

Matthew O’Sullivan thought a drag race was over when his mate sped past him, through an intersection and into a tree.

O’Sullivan had been leading the Ford v Holden race, reaching speeds of 180kmh down a rural Napier road on February 19 last year.

The Ford slowed but Holden driver Brandan Lawrence was unaware he was approaching the intersection, saw an opportunity to pass, and accelerated.

Lawrence lost control and slid sideways for 120 metres before slamming, driver’s side first, into a large tree.

Maree Schafer, 18, who was sitting in the back seat of the Holden, died at the scene of head injuries.

O’Sullivan, 21, who was racing his new Ford Falcon, has been charged with racing causing death, and racing causing injury. He is defending the charges in the Napier District Court this week.

In a police interview, he said he couldn’t believe Lawrence accelerated off. ‘‘He was never going to stop for the intersection. Although I knew it was there, I had to brake heavily.’’

O’Sullivan thought the race was over as he braked because the intersection was the finish line.

He ‘‘freaked out a bit’’ seeing the crash, the court heard. He tried to help his trapped friends by typing their injuries into his phone so he could later services.

O’Sullivan told police he often went cruising with friends but was not a ‘‘drag racer’’. That night was his first and only time, the court heard.

‘‘If I could turn back time I would, but I can’t, it happened,’’ he said in a police statement.

Lawyer Scott Jefferson said O’Sullivan was not responsible for the crash because he braked and

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emergency slowed down well before the intersection. ‘‘He [Lawrence] gunned it . . . it was not part of any race, the race was over.’’

But Crown prosecutor Clayton Walker said claiming the race had finished before the crash was ‘‘splitting hairs’’. Everyone who encouraged the ‘‘highly reckless, highly dangerous’’ race was responsible.

Lawrence, 19 at the time, had pleaded guilty and been sentenced for racing causing death and racing causing injury. A passenger, Jesse Ellmers, who had encouraged the race, and Adam O’Sullivan, who started it, had also pleaded guilty and sentenced on the two charges.

Two young inexperienced drivers racing powerful cars was ‘‘stupidity of the highest order’’, Walker said.

The judge will sum up the case this morning.