Frenchman Melvin De Costa did not want his face to be seen when leaving Hamilton District Court after admitting five charges over a quadruple fatal at Netherton.
A Frenchman who killed three of his friends and a Kiwi man in a fiery blaze was travelling just over 120km/h passing a milk tanker when he crashed into a BMW at Netherton.
Melvin De Costa, 24, appeared in the Hamilton District Court today and pleaded guilty to five charges in relation to the deaths of three French tourists and a Paeroa local, Reece Growden-Olsen, near State Highway 2 at Netherton last month.
De Costa has recovered from his injuries but his passenger Corentin Nantillet remains in Waikato Hospital with a multitude of horrific injuries which saw him lose part of both his small and large intestine.
Reece Growden-Olsen was killed in the head-on crash. Photo / Supplied
De Costa, of France, admitted dangerous driving causing the deaths of Growden-Olsen and tourists Islem Merad-Boudia, Soufaine Sadek and Hugo Defacques and dangerous driving causing injury to Nantillet at Netherton on June 17.
About 7.35pm they were travelling on State Highway 2 at Netherton. The road was in complete darkness and surrounded by "extremely dense fog causing visibility in front to be around 50 metres".
De Costa came up behind a fuel tanker and was travelling at about 80km/h due to the poor visibility.
However, as they negotiated a right-curved section of SH2, De Costa began overtaking the truck, speeding in excess of 100km/h, crossing the centreline.
As he pulled out he saw lights from an oncoming BMW. In an attempt to avoid the crash he swerved to the right side of the road, however the front left side of the rental car collided with the front of the BMW, sending it rotating on impact before bursting into flames.
Growden-Olsen died at the scene.
De Costa's rental car became airborne and spun before coming to rest over an armco barrier, deep in a roadside ditch.
The passengers in the front seat, rear left and rear centre seats also died at the scene.
Soufiane Sadek was one of the French students who died in the crash. Photo / Supplied
The speedometer of the tourist's rented Toyota was locked on just over 120km/h and the rev counter on nearly 6000rpm, giving police an indication of the speed on impact.
Nantillet suffered a plethora of serious injuries, including multiple fractures to his sternum, broken bones in his arm and leg, ruptured bowel, bruised spleen, cut liver and had part of his small and large intestine removed during three surgeries.
When questioned by police, De Costa was extremely remorseful and said the GPS told him he was on a straight piece of road.
He thought he could see a clear space in front of him that he could move into, checking to see the way was clear before beginning to overtake the truck.
The three dead students were from the Centre for Industrial Studies (CESI) in Saint Nazaire and were believed to be on their way to the Hobbiton movie set at the time of the crash.
De Costa, who was supported in court by his France-based parents and brother, was assisted by an interpreter.
His lawyer, Tom Sutcliffe, asked for the matter to be dealt with as soon as possible as his family were in temporary accommodation and had a limited budget.
French student Hugo Defacques was one of the three French tourists killed. Photo / Supplied
Judge Kim Saunders convicted De Costa and referred him to restorative justice.
He was remanded on bail to reappear for sentence next month.
