Burswood car meet crash driver jailed for hitting teen spectator
A driver who crashed and nearly killed a teenage girl in his speeding Honda Civic during a midnight car meet in Burswood has been jailed.
Foreign student Chun Lai Yuen, 25, admitted attacking 17-year-old Caitlyn Dickson, who was part of a crowd of about 200 people gathered on Camfield Drive admiring other people’s cars.
Mobile phone footage of the incident shows Dickson being thrown meters into the air on impact and flipping twice before running off onto the road.
Yuen accelerated to more than 100 km/h in a 50 km/h zone before braking at the last moment and crashing into Dickson at an estimated speed of 87 km/h.
The girl suffered life-threatening injuries, including a ruptured aorta, spleen and bladder, as well as cracks in her pelvis and elbow that required surgery to insert metal plates.
He continues to need rehabilitation and suffers from ongoing medical problems.
Her father, Paul Dickson, told the sentencing judge that his daughter was an “extraordinarily strong woman” and that the incident had had a profound impact on their family, both emotionally and financially.
Yuen, who has attended road safety courses and received counseling since the incident due to “huge feelings of guilt”, broke down in tears as he was sentenced in the Perth Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.
He claimed at an earlier hearing that he was caught in traffic jams resulting from a car encounter as he tried to leave the casino parking lot and get to dinner in town.
“He was trying to go one way but there was too much traffic so he had to go another direction,” his lawyer said.
“He felt sudden pain due to the hernia he had… he panicked and sped up in response to the pain.
“The victim entered the road facing Mr Yuen, did not stop in time and therefore hit him at speed. This is acceptable.”
Yuen also admitted removing and hiding his car’s dashcam SD card before police arrived, but claimed this was due to fear and “threats from onlookers”.
The judge accepted he was remorseful and sentenced him to 16 months in prison for dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm.
The Hong Kong-born electrical engineer, who is in Perth on a graduate visa, will be eligible for parole after serving eight months in prison.
Additionally, his driver’s license was confiscated for 3 years.
