Suspect 'joked about his fast car'

A Richmond man charged with manslaughter after a fatal car race bragged to a car dealer his Honda was one of the fastest around, two days after the accident.

In evidence that was read to the court, Tahunanui car dealer John Byrman said Ralph Karl Nathanael Bastian visited his yard on June 30 last year with a friend, Ricky Nisbett.

Mr Nisbett first asked about selling a ute and later one of the men asked whether Mr Byrman would be interested in buying a Honda Integra.

Mr Byrman said he told Bastian his car was a nice looking vehicle and Bastian said it was one of the quickest around.

"He and Ricky were joking about it being a really fast car."

Bastian, 22, of Richmond, is on trial in the High Court at Nelson for manslaughter, after participating in a high-speed race on June 28, 2009 against a Nissan Silvia along the Inland Highway to Upper Moutere.

The race ended near Sunrise Valley Rd when the driver of the Nissan, Aaron Chalmers-Hill, 21, of Nelson lost control of his silver Nissan Silvia. It spun out, left the road and slammed into a felled tree.

Bastian is charged with Mr Chalmers-Hill's manslaughter and faces another charge of dangerous driving causing injury to Mr Chalmers-Hill's passenger, Sean Mortimer.

The Crown says Mr Chalmers-Hill had just overtaken Mr Bastian's white Honda Prelude. Two occupants of a third car, which was some distance behind, were earlier this year found guilty of counselling and inciting Bastian and Mr Chalmers-Hill to race.

Mr Byrman said Mr Nisbett and Bastian were bantering with each other and talked about a young man getting killed at the weekend a few times and that he had been racing or dragging. Mr Byrman said he told the men he hadn't heard about the accident and Mr Nisbett told him there was a rumour going around Bastian's Honda was faster than a Nissan Silvia.

Bastian told him he had got a ticket on the same spot a week ago.

Bastian's Honda was taken by police on July 1.

The jury yesterday also heard from people who were driving on the Inland Highway and were overtaken by Mr Chalmers-Hill and Bastian.

Three drivers spoke of the cars travelling at what they believed was well in excess of the speed limit and the cars overtaking them on spots on the road they considered dangerous.

Kelvin Proctor said he was walking into Upper Moutere village on the evening of June 26 when he heard two cars approaching the 50kmh zone near Sunrise Valley very quickly. He had heard them from some way off.

"There was no gear changes, they were in top gear and just accelerating."

Mr Proctor said he crossed the road and continued to walk into the village and he turned round to look at the vehicles as he could hear they were so close together and not slowing down.

"I realised something was going to happen."

He estimated the cars were travelling about 160kmh and were one to two metres apart when he saw them at the entrance to Upper Moutere.

He then saw the back end of the first car slide out, before the car spun 180 degrees, left the road and went over a bank slamming solidly into a tree.

He said it all happened very quickly and there was no braking.

The other vehicle swerved to avoid the silver car and paused, before speeding off, he said.

He did not agree with defence lawyer Tony Bamford that Bastian's car had started slowing down some time before the accident.

- © Fairfax NZ News