Father Jason Alexander said his daughters were "beautiful girls" when he left court this morning. Photo / George Heard
A driver accused of driving too fast before a crash that killed two teenage sisters has today entered shock guilty pleas in the middle of his jury trial.
Levi Fiddymont had claimed his Subaru WRX's brakes failed on him coming downhill that night, while the Crown alleged he was driving too fast.
Tayla Alexander, 17, died and her sister Sunmara, 15, suffered critical injuries in the crash on Summit Rd in Christchurch on November 27, 2019.
Sunmara, an Ashburton College student, died later in hospital on December 13, on her 16th birthday.
She had suffered extensive burns after the car's fuel tank ruptured and the battle to save her had meant multiple amputations due to infections.
A teenage boy who was also a passenger suffered serious injuries and survived.
Levi Phillip Fiddymont, now 21, was standing trial before a jury at Christchurch District Court this week, denying two counts of dangerous driving causing death, as well as one charge of dangerous driving causing injury.
But this morning, on day three of the trial, his lawyer Andrew McCormick said Fiddymont wanted to change his pleas and admit all three charges.
Judge Paul Kellar remanded Fiddymont on bail, with a condition not to drive, to be sentenced on January 12.
The judge thanked the jury for their service, "especially in these Covid times" and in an "upsetting" trial, before discharging them.
He also acknowledged the Alexander family who sat through all of the court proceedings and the dignified way they had conducted themselves.
Leaving court this morning, devastated father Jason Alexander said: "They were beautiful girls".
Crown prosecutor Sophie Bicknell earlier said there was no evidence of brake failure on Fiddymont's 2011 Subaru WRX.
Professor John Raine, of Auckland University of Technology, who has 30 years' experience in vehicle crash investigations, reviewed the evidence on the police file for the case.
He concluded from his calculations Fiddymont was likely doing around 110km/h. Fiddymont had said he was travelling at about 65-70km/h and had pumped his brakes coming down the hill but there was nothing there.
The court earlier heard Tayla sent a text message to her best friend moments before the fatal crash to say, "Bro I'm going to die tonight".
When her friend messaged straight back to ask why, Tayla replied at 10.54pm: "Haven't gone so fast around Port Hills before".
"Omg Tayla!!!!" her friend replied.
Dan Myers, an automotive engineer at the Low Volume Vehicle Technical Association (LVVTA), also gave evidence to say he found "nothing out of the ordinary" when he looked at photos of Fiddymont's car.
There was nothing that raised any questions about the functioning of the brakes or the car's certification, he said, adding the Subaru's brakes were of high-specification and the tyres were high performance with a good level of tread.
But under cross-examination, he accepted it was possible Fiddymont's model of Subaru could have been suffering from hidden corrosion of the brakes, which had been an issue in the UK and the US.
The Crown said because of his speed, Fiddymont failed to negotiate the first bend and the car crossed the centreline before crashing into the steep rock back.
The car spun anti-clockwise down the bank on the other side and Tayla, who may not have been wearing seatbelt, was thrown from the backseat. She struck a steel roadside barrier and landed 28m away, dying from massive head injuries.
The car came to rest 3m down the bank and Fiddymont and the male passenger managed to get out.
But Sunmara, who was seriously injured, was trapped inside the vehicle. It caught fire when the fuel tank ruptured and she received significant burns before emergency services could rescue her, the court heard.
The male passenger, who broke his collarbone, ruptured his spleen, and had a brain bleed, has no recollection of the crash.
The vehicle was damaged while later being towed and an $11k claim by the owner followed.