Woman died after car deliberately driven into, court told

Tony Allen Worrell, 49, is wheeled from Manukau District Court at a hearing shortly after the June 2008 crash. Photo / Greg Bowker

A man accused of murdering a newlywed woman by deliberately crashing into her had already caused a serious crash before the fatal collision, a High Court jury has heard.

Tony Allan Worrell, 50, "ploughed" directly into Katie Powles' car on June 3, 2008 in Karaka, Auckland, prosecutor Kirsten Gray told the High Court at Auckland this afternoon.

Seconds before the crash, Worrell collided with a father who was driving his young sons home. He had allegedly driven straight into four others cars on the same stretch of road.

Worrell left the house he shared with his estranged wife earlier that night after she told him she was fed up with his drinking.

He packed his bags and left home, stopping to phone her from a service station where he said he was "looking for a semi" a reference to a semi-trailer, Ms Gray said.

Worrell denies one charge of murder, four of attempting to cause intentional damage and one of causing grevious bodily harm.

Ms Gray said after Worrell left the service station he drove at four separate cars, crossing the centre line, and making no attempt to avoid them in any way.

The drivers of those cars took evasive action, swerving across the road to miss him.

Worrell continued driving on the wrong side of the road, travelling at speed, towards Karaka man Brett Robinson who was driving his 12 year-old and 9 year-old sons home from football training.

Their cars collided and Mr Robinson's Fiat Uno rolled and came to rest on its side. He and one of his sons were trapped inside.

Mrs Powles, who knew the scene of the crash in Linwood Rd well, was driving home from work and was directly behind Mr Robinson. "The accused smashed directly into her," Ms Gray said.

Mrs Powles was rushed to hospital but she died later that night.

Worrell's lawyer, Matthew Goodwin, said Mrs Powles death was "tragic" but said the jury would have to put emotion to one side to assess whether his client was criminally liable for the charges he faced.

He said Worrell didn't intentionally drive into the four cars, intending to cause damage and disputed there was an intent to cause Mr Robinson grevious bodily harm.

Mr Goodwin said it was the defence case that the Crown could not prove culpable homicide and that Worrell had murderous intent when he drove into Mrs Powles.

The trial has been set down for three weeks and is expected to hear from 33 Crown witnesses.