A GLEN Innes man had allegedly been drinking and was speeding more than 45km over the legal limit when he crashed a ute, killing a teenager earlier this year.
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Police from the Oxley Crash Investigation Unit laid the fresh charges against Ryan Langer in Armidale Local Court on Wednesday, as he fronted court, flanked by family members.
It’s the police case that Langer, 18 at the time of the August 12 incident, was a learner driver and was unsupervised when he crashed the black Holden Commodore utility on Shannon Vale Rd, near Glen Innes, about 10.45pm.
Nineteen-year-old Tamika Black-Atkins, a local to Glen Innes, who was a passenger in the car, suffered serious injuries and was taken to Glen Innes hospital but passed away a short time later.
Langer was arrested at the scene and taken to Glen Innes hospital for mandatory testing.
On Wednesday, the court heard investigators had laid charges of aggravated dangerous driving occasioning death and special-range PCA.
According to police charge sheets, investigators allege Langer was travelling at more the 45km per hour over the speed limit for his driver’s permit and recorded a blood alcohol reading of 0.048.
Following the fatal collision, crash investigators carried out detailed examinations of the scene and mechanical checks of the wreckage and will also allege in court Langer performed a burnout, was driving an uninsured and unregistered vehicle with number plates for a different vehicle.
He is now facing 10 charges including dangerous driving occasioning death, learner unaccompanied, driving an unregistered and uninsured vehicle and using a vehicle with bald tyres.
In court on Wednesday, a solicitor for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) said the officer-in-charge of the case had been compiling a brief of evidence, but fresh charges meant more time was needed.
There should be no excuse for the matter not to proceed.
- Magistrate Michael Holmes
Magistrate Michael Holmes granted an adjournment, ordering the police brief to be served on Langer’s defence solicitor by mid-January, with the case adjourned to early February.
“There should be no excuse for the matter not to proceed,” he told the court. “Bail is to continue.”
As part of his bail conditions, Langer has to report to police three times a week and is prohibited from occupying the driver’s seat of any vehicle.