A Lake Macquarie man had cocaine, methylamphetamine and alcohol in his body when he stole his father's ute, led police on a chase and crashed into a motorcycle rider - killing 49-year-old Christian Langham.
After the fatal crash, Benjamin Christopher Koosmen fled the scene without offering any help, broke into three nearby homes and stole an SUV in an attempt to leave the area.
The 34-year-old pleaded guilty to a range of charges in Newcastle Local Court on Wednesday, including manslaughter over Mr Langham's death.
According to an agreed statement of facts tendered to the court, Koosmen was living with his parents in Wangi Wangi when he took his father's vehicle without permission on the evening of December 1, 2022.
His mother repeatedly urged him to return home - he was less than two months into a 10-month suspension from driving.
Koosmen briefly returned but took off again after each of his parents tried to take the keys out of the ignition through the window.
He drove to Blackalls Park, then Toronto where police saw him swerve and illegally pass a stop sign. By this time, Koosmen's mother had made good on her promise to call police.
Koosmen drove towards Fennell Bay with police following him. He lost them but stopped until they caught up with him again, only to speed away.
"This guy is going to kill someone," one of the senior constables said to his partner at the time, according to the agreed facts.
The officers found Koosmen at Fennell Bay and he again lost them.
The ute sped into the roundabout at the intersection of Main Road and Macquarie Road and t-boned a motorcycle.
The rider suffered horrendous injuries and died at the scene.
Koosmen fled without stopping to help the fatally wounded man and broke into two nearby homes - shaking a man inside one unit and intimidating a woman in another. He then jumped the fence into a backyard and broke into a third home where he told an occupant "there are people chasing me".
Koosmen took keys to a Nissan Prado and rammed a driveway gate up to three times to get through.
He reversed towards the crash scene where police recognised him. He eventually stopped the vehicle and was arrested.
Blood analysis later found cocaine and methylamphetamine in his body as well as a blood-alcohol reading of 0.029. A doctor opined that this reading was likely between 0.044 and 0.067 at the time of the crash.
Koosmen remains in custody and will face Newcastle District Court on November 2, where he will get a sentence date.
