Teen lay on the road after death drive

A teenage driver tried to get himself run over as a woman lay dying under the van that he flipped on the Pahiatua Track, a court heard.

Dane John Murray, 19, is charged with dangerous driving causing death, dangerous driving causing injury and driving while disqualified after a people-mover he was driving crashed about 8pm on July 19 last year.

He pleaded guilty to the latter charge yesterday in Palmerston North District Court but is on trial on the other charges, which he denies.

Karen Dawn Ansell, 42, of Masterton, was fatally injured when she was thrown from the vehicle, which finished upside down on top of her in a drain, off Nikau Road.

The other passenger, Naomi Williams, received various injuries but managed to climb from the window of the overturned vehicle.

The van was fully loaded with home appliances, bedding, clothing and a cat, which Murray was helping the women to move from their previous home in Foxton to Masterton.

A visibly upset Ms Williams told the court that she had warned Murray several times to slow down before the accident.

But he would soon speed back up and continue to either take the corners too wide or too far to the left-hand side of the road, she said.

"As we came down the hill on the last corner the left back wheel hit the gravel and the car started to swerve."

He tried to correct it but the van fish-tailed before rolling over and landing on its roof, she said.

"The next thing I know I am upside down in a ditch." After climbing out, Ms Williams stayed with her friend who was half trapped under the van and turning cold.

At that time Murray was "going nuts", screaming, yelling, kicking and punching the van, she said.

He said, "I want to die, I don't want to go to jail", and proceeded to lie in the middle of the road so a car would run him over, she said.

"I told him to stop being stupid, I didn't want him near me."

Murray accepts that he was a disqualified driver and that Ms Ansell's death and Ms William's injuries were a result of the crash.

But he maintains that he did not drive dangerously.

Defence counsel jd Dallas put it to the jury that the van was over- loaded, contributing to the crash.

Murray had approached the corner at a slow speed, he said.

Judge Les Atkins is presiding.

- © Fairfax NZ News