Police at the scene of the car crash on Adelaide Avenue on 17 April 2024. Photo: ACT Policing.
A teenager accused of causing the death of a 15-year-old claims an older man had been behind the wheel before the pair crawled out of the wreckage, jumped into another stolen vehicle and fled the scene.
Last week, an ACT Supreme Court jury trial began against the teenager, charged with manslaughter, who is alleged to have been the driver in the fatal crash.
A stolen Toyota Camry had been speeding on Adelaide Avenue before 5 am on 17 April 2024 when it lost control, crashed into a barrier and rolled onto its roof.
A 15-year-old boy, who had been a passenger in the car, was thrown from the vehicle and suffered head injuries when he landed on the road before he was later pronounced brain dead.
Jurors heard the teenager, then aged 14, and then-20-year-old Jack Summerell-Jenkins, got out of the Camry after the crash and into a stolen Genesis SUV driven by another 20-year-old, Jayden Michael Chauveau, before they all fled the scene.
Defence barrister John Purnell SC called his client, the teenager, to testify on Monday (2 March). Under questioning, he claimed he was the front seat passenger while Summerell-Jenkins drove the Camry.
The teenager said he was left with a bloody nose, bloody mouth and sore chest from the crash. As the car rolled onto its roof, he hung upside down, freed himself from his seat belt, then fell onto his elbows and knees before crawling out of the driver’s-side window, following Summerell-Jenkins.
Mr Purnell asked whether he had seen the 15-year-old’s injuries.
“I’m not sure,” he replied.
“Did you see [the 15-year-old] after the accident?” Mr Purnell asked.
“No,” the teenager replied.
He said he and Summerell-Jenkins then both got into the Genesis, driven by Chauveau, who drove them away.
In the teenager’s cross-examination, the prosecutor asked if he said anything to the others in the Genesis when he got inside.
“I said, ‘I need water’,” he replied.
The prosecutor said the teenager’s blood was found on the road outside the driver’s side of the Camry.
“The fastest way out of the car was through the window in the seat you were in. The reason you came out of the driver’s window is because you were the driver,” the prosecutor told him.
“No,” he replied.
In closing submissions, Mr Purnell argued the prosecution could not prove his client was the driver beyond reasonable doubt.
“There is no direct evidence before you called by the prosecution that [the teenager] was ever driving the Camry,” he said.
“He told you that Jack was the driver.”
He said a witness to the crash thought the two men who got out of the Camry could have crawled out the same window.
Mr Purnell also said a man, who was in custody with Summerell-Jenkins and Chauveau, claimed the latter told him he saw the former driving before the crash. Chauveau confirmed he said that to the man.
The barrister said Summerell-Jenkins denied being the driver, but also claimed he had no recollection of any events that led to the 15-year-old’s death.
The teenager, now aged 16, has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and, in the alternative, culpable driving causing death.
He did plead guilty to a charge of riding in a motor vehicle without consent as he admitted being a passenger in the car.
Jurors in the trial, which has been held before Acting Justice John Burns, have begun deliberating.
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