Jury hears details of fatal crash at Stawell burnout event

A County Court jury has watched footage of the moment a driver lost function of his front brakes at an organised burnout and drift car event and hit and killed a teenage boy in western Victoria in 2023.

Trent DeZoete, 18, of Pimpinio was a spectator at the LOO5ENATS event at Stawell Motor Sports Club on November 4, 2023, when he was struck by a car that was competing in the event. He was walking from the grandstand to the food truck area with his friend just after 4pm when he was hit and killed.

The driver, Bryce Driden, 29, of Wendouree, has pleaded not guilty to one count of culpable driving causing death. In the Melbourne County Court on Wednesday, lawyers for the prosecution said that instead of staying within the arena, Mr Driden had driven out into the public area where there were spectators.

The prosecution alleged that although it was a "spontaneous mechanical issue" during the competition, Mr Driden made the "unjustifiable decision" to drive away from the skid pad where there were "available precautions and safe confines in the arena". The prosecution alleged that Mr Driden had methamphetamine in his system that led him to be "overconfident" and compromised his decision-making.

Lawyers for the defence told the court the crash did not mean Mr Driden had committed a serious criminal offence and that "sometimes tragic accidents occur, sometimes they're no-one's fault".

"The issue in this trial is whether it was grossly negligent ... the law doesn't expect someone to drive perfectly ... drivers make split-second decisions."

"We're human beings, we're not perfect ... terrible accidents happen," the defence team told the court.

Today, jurors are expected to visit the track site in Stawell to walk the path Mr DeZoete took before he died.

The prosecution said it expected to hear from about 30 witnesses during the trial.