Police at the scene of the car crash on Adelaide Avenue on 17 April 2024. Photo: ACT Policing.
The driver of a speeding car present during the fatal crash that killed a 15-year-old boy made the decision to flee the scene and leave the injured boy on the road behind him, a court has heard.
A stolen Toyota Camry was being driven on Adelaide Avenue in Yarralumla on 17 April 2024 when it crashed, ending up on its roof in the middle of the road.
One of the passengers, a 15-year-old boy, was ejected from the car in the crash and landed on the road.
The ACT Supreme Court heard the Camry had been travelling with another stolen car, a Genesis GV80 SUV, driven by Jaydon Michael Chauveau, which reached 127 km/h at the time of the crash.
Both the Camry’s alleged driver, who legally cannot be named, and passenger Jack Dennis Summerrell-Jenkins managed to crawl out of the destroyed vehicle and get into the Genesis.
Summerell-Jenkins told Chauveau the 15-year-old was lying on the road before a young female passenger in the Genesis got out of the car, but the others screamed at her to get back in.
“A choice was made at that point to flee the scene,” a prosecutor told the Supreme Court on Monday (17 November), and everyone left in the Genesis.
The 15-year-old boy was found with critical injuries when emergency services arrived. He died in hospital.
Chauveau then dropped the Camry’s occupants off and drove the Genesis to a field in southern Canberra and set it on fire, before an unknown person in another car collected him and his female passenger.
Summerell-Jenkins, now 22, was handed a jail sentence when he faced court over his role in the incident earlier this year, while the sentencing hearing for his cousin, 22-year-old Chauevau, was held on Monday.
In a statement, the 15-year-old’s mother told the court “he was left to die” and she knew that if a friend of his had been thrown onto the road like that, he would have stayed until help arrived.
She and her son argued in December 2023 and while they continued to speak over the phone, she didn’t see him again until when he was in hospital and she was told he wouldn’t recover.
“My baby boy was dead,” she said.
“He will be forever 15.”
The mother told Chauveau, “Don’t go out stealing; show me by doing better”.
“Live your life for [my son] and do all the things he will never be able to do,” she said.
Chauveau pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact to culpable driving causing grievous bodily harm, arson and driving a stolen vehicle.
The prosecutor said Chauveau destroyed evidence when he set fire to the Genesis, but police caught those involved thanks to DNA found inside the Camry, as well as the assistance of the young female passenger.
Chauveau’s barrister, Stephen Robinson, said his client had only met the others involved in the incident, aside from Summerell-Jenkins, on the night of the crash.
He was driving the Genesis in front of the Camry, so he hadn’t seen the crash, but heard it and stopped.
Mr Robinson said his client’s accessory after the fact charge related to driving away from the scene of the crash with the alleged driver of the Camry, and he hadn’t been charged with not calling for an ambulance.
He also said his client had a disadvantaged upbringing, mental health difficulties, became addicted to drugs at an early age and had a criminal history that was “not good”.
Mr Robinson said his client had been granted parole on other matters in May 2025, but had remained in custody since then as he had been refused bail on his charges related to the crash.
Acting Justice Patricia Kelly has reserved her sentencing decision and will hand it down at a future date.
The alleged driver of the Camry remains before the courts.
lol wut? So the government should ignore known risks based on no testing or risk assessment. Genius. View