Witness tells of drink smell

A woman has told a court of finding Tony Worrell slumped in his wrecked car, bloody, snoring and stinking of alcohol, after the collision with the young woman he is accused of murdering.

Fiona Blakely said the scene was one of complete carnage, with "bits of cars everywhere".

While others went to the aid of other trapped victims, she went to Worrell's car and found him slumped to the left with blood trickling from his nose and mouth. He also had a gash to his head.

"I tried to wake him, he absolutely smelt of alcohol," she told the High Court at Auckland yesterday.

"It sounded like he was snoring ... but there was no response."

Police allege Worrell, 50, deliberately crashed into the car being driven by Katie Powles, 26, killing her, as she was driving home along Linwood Rd on June 3 last year.

He is also accused of causing Brett Robinson grievous bodily harm when he crashed into him in the seconds before the impact with Mrs Powles' car and of four counts of attempting to cause intentional damage.

Those charges relate to allegations Worrell drove towards four cars on the same stretch of road without trying to avoid them before he finally collided with Mr Robinson and Mrs Powles.

Mrs Blakely, asked by prosecutor Kirsten Gray when she noticed the smell of alcohol, said: "The minute I climbed in the car."

Worrell's lawyer Hugh Leabourn asked her if the smell of alcohol could have come from the beer that had been spilt inside the car. She said that it wasn't from the beer, that it smelt like someone after "a heavy night of drinking".

St John Ambulance officer Anna Truscott said the snoring sound Worrell made would have been because his airways were blocked. The trial continues.