'Alcohol, cannabis used' before crash

A car driver accused of leaving a passenger lying dead in a ditch at the scene of an accident told a mate he "wasn't going down for it", a court has heard.

Shane Frederick Croton, 33, of Ashburton, faces charges of causing the death of Melissa Reihana Brown by careless use of a vehicle, failing to ascertain injury after an accident, causing injury to another person and, having been the driver in an accident where a person was killed, failed to render assistance.

No pleas have been entered at the depositions hearing in the Ashburton District Court before justices of the peace Eric Weir and Anne Fleming

Brown, 22, was found dead in an irrigation race about 150m-200m from the crash scene near Rakaia on January 31.

A witness who cannot be named said he, Melissa (Missy) Brown and Croton bought casks of vodka and orange in Ashburton before heading for Leeston about 9.35pm.

The witness said that all drank vodka and he and Croton, who was driving, shared cannabis.

One cask was drunk. After visiting a house at Rakaia they headed to Leeston.

The witness said he heard "ding ding ding" – the noise his Toyota made at 105 or 106kmh – then the car skidded and there was a bang.

He recalled stepping out into knee-deep water and saw Croton but not Brown.

The witness said he looked for her but did not think Croton did.

"I asked him where Missy was; he said she'd already been picked up," he said.

They flagged down a truck driver and were dropped off in Ashburton.

"He ( Croton) said he wasn't going down for this and don't tell anyone who was driving.

"I felt a little bit threatened," the witness said.

Asked by Croton's counsel, Grant Tyrrell, if he could recall Croton saying "if some silly bastard hadn't pulled on the hand brake, this wouldn't have happened", the witness said he could not.

The Kaiapoi truck driver who picked up the pair, Brent McNeill, said he dialed 111 after dropping the two off in Ashburton.

Croton, the older of the two, was bleeding badly and limping.

He said Croton told him no-one else was involved but when the younger man mentioned Brown, Croton said she had been picked up by a boyfriend, said McNeill.

He said he had a gut feeling something was wrong and asked to see the crash scene.

But Croton insisted he wanted to go to Ashburton and that Brown had been picked up.

Croton, he said, did not want to go to hospital and did not want the police involved.

McNeill said Croton appeared "blobbed out" as though affected by drink or drugs.

The hearing is continuing.