A TEENAGE girl was alcohol affected and unlicensed when she wrapped a car carrying three passengers around a powerpole in Humffray Street South, a court has heard.
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Emily Louise Beaston, 19, was trapped in the car for more than two hours while the front passenger spent four-and-a-half hours being freed.
The two rear passengers weren’t wearing seatbelts and were ejected out the back windscreen.
Beaston appeared in the dock of Ballarat Magistrates Court this morning, where she pleaded guilty to 19 charges including negligently causing serious injury, relating to the crash on November 20 last year.
The court heard witnesses had told police they heard a car “screaming” and going “incredibly fast” down Humffray Street South about 8.15pm, before it collided with a concrete pass, rolled and crashed into a powerpole.
Beaston and the front passenger were airlifted to Melbourne while the two rear passengers escaped with lacerations and abrasions.
Four hours after the crash Beaston recorded a blood alcohol concentration of 0.01 and was said to have been drinking Vodka Cruisers prior to getting behind the wheel.
The front passenger suffered fractures to his collar bone, both lower legs, left ankle and ribs.
Beaston suffered serious spinal injuries, which caused the hearing originally scheduled for last week to be adjourned to today.
Police investigators determined the car to have been travelling at about 102km/h before impact, which occurred in a 60km/h zone.
Defence lawyer Jeremy Harper said his client had suffered both emotionally and physically from the crash, and was remorseful for her actions.
“She does take responsibility for the terrible driving that caused this accident,” he said.
“Obviously she shouldn’t have been driving at all given she didn’t have a license.”