Fatal crash: who drove the car?

wta210514lflaura02.jpg The crosses on the Masterton Castlepoint Road, at Te Ore Ore, for crash victim Laura Jessop.

Eamonn Woods was concussed and confused when he made statements suggesting he had been driving when Masterton woman Laura Jessop died in a car crash last May, his lawyer says.
Woods, 29, defended in Masterton District Court on Friday a charge of careless driving causing the death of Jessop, 18.
The two-day trial before Judge Barbara Morris will continue on Monday.
Woods' lawyer, Noel Sainsbury, said there was "no issue with the mechanics of the crash" for the defence.
"The only matter today is whether the defendant was driving."
Both Woods and Jessop were thrown from the vehicle when it crashed some time before 6.30pm on Tuesday, May 5, at the intersection of the Masterton Castlepoint Road and Stronvar Road, near Masterton.
Mr Sainsbury said at the crash scene Woods "made statements that could, in part, be interpreted as evidence that he was driving".
The question was whether they were admissions, and also whether they were reliable, given medical "records as to his coherence, confusion and so forth".
Dr Sarah Clarke gave evidence that she was a locum working at the Wairarapa Hospital on May 5 when the crash occurred.
She described Woods as "orientated" and "neurologically normal except for amnesia of the event (the crash) and repeated questions".
"Mr Woods repeatedly asked 'Did I have a passenger? Did I have a passenger?'" Dr Clarke said.
Responding to questions from police prosecutor Sergeant Graeme Eden and Mr Sainsbury, Dr Clarke said the repeated questions - despite being given answers - were evidence that Woods was "not laying down new memories" because of concussion.
She scored Woods 15 out of 15 on the Glasgow Coma Scale - a normal result, although an earlier report from an ambulance officer had scored him lower, at 14 out of 15, because of confusion.
Evidence was also given in court from the driver who was first on the scene, a fire officer and three ambulance staff including two paramedics.
There was also a video interview with Eamonn Woods in Masterton Police Station, which was played in court.
Woods told the police officer: "My memory is extremely limited".
He said he remembered stopping at the Te Ore Ore Road-Bidefore Road intersection, where he said Laura took over the driving, and he fell asleep listening to music.
Woods said the pair stopped at the picnic area on Bennetts Hill, coming back towards Masterton, where he got out for a cigarette and got back in the passenger side.
The next thing he said remembered was waking up in a helicopter.
In the video, the police officer asked if Woods could explain statements the other witnesses heard him make at the scene.
They included "I f**d up", "What's happened?" "Was anybody with me?" "I've done something really stupid" "Was there anyone else in the car?" "Was I the only one in the car?".
Asked whether he was the driver, Woods had given answers including "Yes", "Yeah", "I think I am", "I was".
Woods initially asked, "Was I conscious?" and asked whether the officer was referring to "the comments I made when I was concussed?"
He then said, "I've come to at a car accident - my car, I would have made the assumption that I was driving".
Woods told the officer "comments I made when I was suffering a head trauma being held against me is a little unfair".
Woods was also asked why witnesses reported him at the scene with his pants down and his boxers up.
"Is there any explaining that?" the officer said. Woods replied, "Np, not at all."
Asked whether the pants had come down in the crash. "That's the only explanation."