THE man who crashed a car that resulted in the death of a Ross Creek teenager two years ago was drink-driving and speeding when he smashed into a tree.
Anthony Solomano, 30, appeared in Ballarat Magistrates Court yesterday for the first time since the fatal crash that killed 19-year-old Kiefer Wilson in Sebastopol more than two years ago.
At the committal hearing in front of a packed court room, Solomano pleaded guilty to four charges —culpable driving of a motor vehicle causing death, failing to stop after an accident to render assistance and two counts of negligent driving causing serious injury.
According to documents tended to the court, the Magpie man was estimated to have reached speeds of up to 117km/h moments before the Hertford Street crash on February 4, 2011.
A forensic medical officer’s report also showed his blood-alcohol concentration was estimated to have been between 0.120 and 0.147 at the time of the crash.
According to the summary, Solomano fled the scene of the accident on foot immediately after the crash, before police and other emergency services arrived.
He was then driven to his mother’s house in Redan before he handed himself in to police at 12.45am the following day.
Mr Wilson died in hospital at 1.40am.
The other two passengers in the car suffered broken pelvises, with one fracturing his spine and the other rupturing his urethra.
The prosecution documents also showed there was a substantial amount of water on the road at the time.
The passengers in the car had previously been inside a van driven by Mr Wilson. They had been heading to Ballarat to buy more alcohol, before it became trapped in knee-high water from heavy rain at the time.
The group then decided to travel in a 2001 Holden VX Commodore, driven by Solomano.
Witnesses claimed he overtook a number of vehicles on the wrong side of the road, before sliding into the tree and causing substantial damage to three parked cars.
Solomano then tried to pull the front-seat passenger out of the car, whom he hoped to flee the scene with, according to the prosecution summary.
Mr Wilson was taken to Ballarat Health Services Base Hospital, but died hours later.
Magistrate Kay Robertson committed Solomano to the County Court for a sentencing hearing.
He is next scheduled to appear on May 6.