KEY POINTS:
A 19-year-old driver who collided with three cyclists on a training ride, leaving a husband and wife with brain injuries, told police he did not see the group in the cycle lane on the left of the roadway.
Benjamin Charles Creagh, a chef at Puketapu near Napier, appeared in Hastings District Court yesterday charged with careless driving causing injury and driving with excess blood-alcohol.
Creagh admitted both charges and was remanded on bail until October 25 for sentence. Police found he had a reading of 400 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath when tested after the accident on July 8.
The court was told that Creagh was driving west toward Hastings on the Havelock North road at 7.55am. His vehicle strayed left into the cycle lane and hit the three cyclists in the rear of a larger group. The impact flung them on to the road and verge.
One cyclist, Joan Robson, received cuts to her head, bruising and grazes while a husband and wife, Shona and Ray Brown, both suffered brain injuries and extensive abrasions. All three were admitted to Hawkes Bay Hospital's intensive care unit.
Creagh told police he did not see the cyclists and apologised for the accident. His lawyer, Tony Snell, said his client immediately offered reparation and had been co-operative with police about the matter.
- NZPA
