SA: Cyclist hallucinated before being struck by car, court told

AAP General News (Australia)
08-17-2009
SA: Cyclist hallucinated before being struck by car, court told

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By Steve Larkin

ADELAIDE, Aug 17 AAP - A professional cyclist was in "gaga land" and had hallucinated
about seeing fairies before being struck by a car driven by Australian mountain bike champion
Chris Jongewaard, a court has been told.

Jongewaard, a four-time national cross country mountain bike champion, on Monday pleaded
not guilty in the South Australian District Court to aggravated causing serious harm by
dangerous driving, and leaving the scene of an accident after causing harm.

Jongewaard, 30, of Para Hills, lost his place on Australia's team for last year's Beijing
Olympics after he was charged over the February 2007 accident.

His car struck his training partner, Matthew Rex, when the pair and eight others were
celebrating Mr Rex's 22nd birthday at a resort at Normanville, south of Adelaide.

Rex had been drinking heavily and was behaving bizarrely over dinner, witnesses told
Jongewaard's trial.

"Matt was struggling to coordinate himself, his eyes were rolling back in his head
... he was hallucinating and seeing fairies in the kitchen," witness Jacqui Ewens, who
was Jongewaard's girlfriend at the time, told the court.

Another person at the birthday celebrations, Peter Raw, said Mr Rex had told others
"he was seeing fairies".

Caitlin Wells, another at the gathering, said Mr Rex was "quite intoxicated and he
was making remarks that he may have been hallucinating".

"He pointed to the kitchen and commented about fairies in the kitchen," Ms Wells told the court.

After dinner, and unbeknown to others, Mr Rex took Jongewaard's mountain bike for a ride.

Daniel Tsiavlis said he took another of Jongewaard's bikes and caught up with Mr Rex.

"I was going out to prevent him from doing anything stupid," Mr Tsiavlis told the court.

"I just kept telling him to get off the road ... that is when I really noticed he was
in gaga land," Mr Tsiavlis said, adding Mr Rex was "heavily intoxicated" and "incoherent".

"I assumed he was on drugs.

"He was in another world and I just yelled at him to get the f*** off the road."

Mr Tsiavlis said he repeated the warning three times, with Mr Rex struck by a car as
he yelled the last warning.

Mr Rex told the court he had taken ecstasy on a previous occasion but denied using
the drug on the day of his accident.

The former professional cyclist said he had no memory since sitting on a balcony at
the resort in the afternoon, until about a month later when he woke in hospital.

Mr Rex said he suffered injuries including a broken back, broken hip, fractured leg,
punctured lung, severed arteries and internal bleeding in the accident.

Prosecutor Paul Rofe told the trial Jongewaard recorded a blood alcohol reading of
0.094 per cent about three hours after the accident.

The trial continues on Tuesday.

AAP sl/mmr/cdh

KEYWORD: JONGEWAARD WRAP

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