A BMW driver ignored his friend’s plea to stop at a red light before crashing into a couple’s Honda at almost 200km/h, killing them instantly.
Doeun of Oudom He ignored his passenger’s shout and, with his foot pressed on the accelerator, accelerated as he approached the traffic light.
Doeun applied the brakes 0.5 seconds before her BMW crashed into the silver Honda, which was waiting to turn right at an intersection in Caulfield South, in Melbourne’s south-east.
A Nepalese couple, Santosh Adhikari, 32, and Pratima Thapa Adhikari, 22, were killed instantly while driving home after finishing a night shift at a nursing home.
Dramatic video showing Doeun’s BMW speeding down North Road was played in County Court on Monday as the 25-year-old faced a pre-sentence hearing.
Doeun faces up to two decades behind bars after pleading guilty to two counts of culpable driving causing death.
Prosecutor Raphael De Vietri said Doeun’s foot was pressed 99 percent on the accelerator as he sped toward the traffic lights on the evening of May 15, 2023.
“There’s a red light, stop!” Doeun’s friend, who was injured in the accident, told him when he saw the traffic light change.
Nursing student Oudom Doeun (pictured) will be sentenced next month for the fatal accident
The speed limit on that stretch of road is 70 km/h, but Doeun was travelling at 190 km/h five seconds before the accident and 213 km/h one second before that.
The BMW was travelling at 196 km/h when it crashed into the victims’ car, causing it to roll over several times before coming to a stop upside down.
Puskal Bhusal said he was “devastated” when he discovered his cousin and his wife had been murdered as they had begun building their lives together in Australia.
He detailed how Doeun’s “deadly adventure” had caused widespread anguish and grief here and in Nepal.
“All this is because of a senseless man who decided to go on an adventure by driving at full speed down a suburban street,” she told the court in tears.
‘If they had stopped at the red light, they might have been alive.
‘We wish that you never find peace in your life, which would be an appropriate punishment.’
Doeun ran a red light before her BMW crashed into a silver Honda, killing a Nepalese couple. The impact of the crash can be seen in the image
Mr De Vietri said Doeun had made a conscious decision to run the red light when “it was almost inevitable that there would be catastrophic consequences”.
“The passenger warnings are clear,” he said.
“This is conscious, it is deliberate, and it relates to both speed and driving through the light.”
However, Doeun’s lawyer, Philip Dunn KC, said the fatal accident was a “fatal error of judgment” over a period of a few seconds.
“He made a terrible mistake,” he said.
‘Although he cannot explain his behaviour, he accepts that it is his fault and that his mistakes have had tragic circumstances.’
Judge Jeanette Morrish said he appeared to have been speeding through traffic lights to avoid the red light.
“It’s a deliberate decision to run the red light,” he said.
Oudom Doeun pleaded guilty to two counts of reckless driving causing death in the horrific fatal crash in May. Pictured is the scene of the accident
Doeun was “worried” before the accident because his parents were unwell and he had picked up his friend to go to the beach for a chat, Dunn said.
He said Doeun, a nursing student, had agreed to go to jail and would be deported to Cambodia after serving his sentence.
Doeun, who was out on bail, was remanded in custody and will return to court on August 30 to serve his sentence.
