An Adelaide court has heard how an out-of-control drink driver was speeding, on his phone, and on the wrong side of the road when he hit and killed a mother-of-three in October 2021.
Key points:
- Lewis James Barton drank at least seven pints of beer on the day he caused the fatal crash
- The victim’s husband described the aftermath, in which he desperately tried to keep his wife breathing
- The court heard Barton, who was on the wrong side of the road, had threatened his own mother before getting behind the wheel
P-plater Lewis James Barton had been drinking for three days and had consumed at least seven pints of beer on the day of the crash that killed Angaston woman Kaylene Saegenschnitter at Mount Pleasant in the Adelaide Hills.
The victim and her husband were heading back from an event in Murray Bridge when Barton hit their vehicle.
Ms Saegenschnitter was rushed to hospital but died 10 days later.
Speaking in the state’s District Court during sentencing submissions, Ms Saegenschnitter’s husband David, who was driving the car that was hit by Barton, described the immediate aftermath of the crash.
Mr Saegenschnitter said he desperately tried to keep his wife breathing, and that he remembered seeing Barton crawling out of his vehicle after the collision.
“You were yelling at everyone, even people who came to your aid — as if what just happened was all our fault,” Mr Saegenschnitter said.
“Then you did what I can only describe as the most pathetic and cowardly act I’ve ever experienced — you ran away.”
The victim’s son, Justin Saegenschnitter, addressed Barton in court, questioning him about another drink driving crash Barton had been involved in since this fatal incident.
“Does my mother’s death not mean anything to you?” he asked Barton, who bowed his head throughout most of the submissions.
The court heard Barton had been drinking at several establishments — including the Mount Pleasant Hotel, Robbers Dog Distillery and the Springton Hotel — in the Adelaide Hills before the incident.
Prosecutor Christine Hanna told the court Barton had brought his young son to each location and had been seen by witnesses crying and being agitated when talking about members of his family.
Ms Hanna told the court Barton left his son behind at the last venue before the crash and had made several phone calls to his mother and partner.
“When [his mother] did answer he said to her, ‘I’m going to come and raid your f****** house and then I’m going to f****** kill you’,” Ms Hanna said.
Ms Hanna told the court that, when police caught up with Barton in a paddock about 500 metres from the crash site, he was captured on a body-worn camera sobbing and saying, “I f***** up, I hurt someone … I got angry … I shouldn’t have done it, just let me go die in a creek”.
Barton’s lawyer, Sam McDonough, told the court his client had come from a broken family and had never had a good relationship with his mother.
Mr McDonough said Barton was upset about the recent death of his grandmother.
“He had heard horrible news about one of the few people in his life that provided him with love and stability,” Mr McDonough said.
“He engaged in complete self-destructive behaviour.
“There is remorse and the prospect of rehabilitation.”
Barton will be sentenced in September.
