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German teenager pleads guilty to fatal crash

Author
NZ Herald, NZ Newswire,
Publish Date
Wed, 6 Dec 2017, 11:47AM
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German teenager pleads guilty to fatal crash

Author
NZ Herald, NZ Newswire,
Publish Date
Wed, 6 Dec 2017, 11:47AM

A 19-year-old German man has pleaded guilty to careless driving causing death after he collided with a truck in the Coromandel last month.

Felix Eisele pulled out in front of the vehicle on State Highway 25 on November 24 which resulted in his girlfriend, 19-year-old Melanie Dangel, suffering serious head injuries.

Dangel never recovered from her injuries and died in Auckland Hospital.

He admitted careless driving causing death when he briefly appeared in the Thames District Court this morning.

The court heard Eisele stopped at the intersection but pulled out in front of the truck. The car was pushed several metres down the road.

Eisele had only recently got his driving licence and had limited driving experience.

Judge Merelina Burnett remanded him on bail to reappear for sentencing next month.

Eisele was supported in court by family.

When spoken to by police, Eisele said he had no memory of what happened.

Duty lawyer Rod Simm, acting on behalf of Eisele's lawyer Simon Lance, lost his bid to apply for name suppression.

He also failed in trying to get sentencing heard on December 19. Judge Burnett said it would not give authorities enough time to complete the various reports.

Eisele was remanded on bail until his sentence at the Thames District Court on January 15.

He faces a maximum of three months in prison.

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