A Lavington man who crashed his car killing his younger son after an access weekend with his two boys had a previous infringement notice for negligent driving, a court has heard.
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Christopher Andrew Luke will be sentenced on November 15 after pleading guilty this week to a single charge of negligent driving occasioning death.
This relates to a crash near Mulwala on November 27 about 4pm in which his three-year-old son was killed.
Luke, 41, was so seriously injured that he was flown by air ambulance to the Royal Melbourne Hospital.
He had to have surgery for multiple wounds and was treated also for a fractured pelvis and leg.
Police were not able to interview Luke until December 21, when he said he could not recall anything about the crash that happened as he headed to Tocumwal to return his boys – the other was aged four – to their mother’s home.
Luke sat in Albury Local Court with his head bowed, his partner reassuring him by putting her hand on his back, shortly before his case was heard by magistrate Tony Murray.
When Mr Murray realised the gravity of the charge, given a death was involved, he ordered a full pre-sentence report.
Mr Murray told Luke he simply could not consider any non-jail options without getting a report prepared, urging him to immediately visit NSW Probation and Parole’s Albury office.
The court was told that Luke – who previously pleaded not guilty to the charge – had the boys in child restraints in the back of his Mitsubishi Lancer for the trip to Tocumwal.
Luke was about 5 kilometres from Mulwala, heading west along Spring Drive, when he approached a right-hand-bend near the intersection of Bull Plain Road.
His car left the road, hitting the gravel verge, before returning to the road.
Police said that Luke’s vehicle “was airborne at the time”.
It then crossed the east-bound lane of Spring Drive before leaving the road again, continuing through long grass and crashing into several trees.
The older boy suffered minor injuries and was taken to Albury hospital by ambulance after nearby witnesses got the three out of the car, one of them having already phoned Triple-0.
Police said Luke did not have any alcohol or drugs in his blood or urine at the time of the crash.
