Dad pleads guilty over crash which killed his teens
Dangerous driving admitted on family’s first trip to see snow
A father lost control of his car, crashing into a tree and killing two of his children when he hit his accelerator rather than the brakes after hitting a gravel surface at about 120km/h.
Emergency services were called to the double-fatal crash on Rakaia Terrace Rd in Canterbury at 2.46pm on August 5 last year.
Khatricia Dulay, 19, and Ian Dulay,
17, died following the collision. Their elder sister, 22-year-old Christine Dulay, was critically injured as was their father’s wife, Virginita Torregosa. Their father, Ghomer Dulay, suffered moderate injuries.
Yesterday, in the Christchurch District Court, Dulay pleaded guilty to two charges of driving a motor vehicle at a speed which was dangerous and thereby caused the death of Khatricia and Ian.
The 46-year-old also pleaded guilty to two charges alleging he drove a motor vehicle at a speed which was dangerous and caused injury to Christine and Torregosa.
According to the summary of facts, Ghomer Dulay and Torregosa planned to take the children to see snow for the first time.
The family left Christchurch about
1.50pm, after Christine and Khatricia finished work.
Torregosa was sitting in the front passenger seat, Christine at the right of the rear seat, Ian in the middle and Khatricia on the left of the rear passenger seat.
Dulay drove out of Christchurch on State Highway 76, following GPS instructions from a cellphone.
He continued southwest and arrived on Rakaia Terrace Rd driving northwest.
Rakaia Terrace Rd is a straight, flat rural road with a de-restricted speed limit and a chip-seal surface.
About 2.5km northwest of the intersection with Te Pirita Rd, the surface of the road changes from chipseal to an unsealed gravel-on-dirt surface. About 150m before the surface change, there was a large warning gravel sign on either side of the road, facing southeast.
Dulay hit the accelerator rather than the brakes when he hit the gravel surface at about 120km/h.
About three seconds after entering the gravel section, Dulay lost control of the vehicle. The car veered to the right-hand side of the road, across a grass area and the passenger side struck a tree. The vehicle spun around coming to a stop on its roof.
Dulay got out of the car and pulled Torregosa and Christine out of the car. He was unable to get Khatricia and Ian, who were later pronounced dead at the scene.
A post-mortem examination found their deaths were caused by high-energy impact injuries to the head, chest, pelvis and limbs.
Torregosa spent 10 nights in hospital with impact injuries to her left side. Christine remained in hospital, the summary said, undergoing regular surgeries suffering a fractured eye socket and ribs, and injuries to her limbs and torso.
Dulay declined to comment to police.