A Tasmanian man has been extradited to face a Queanbeyan court after allegedly fleeing the scene of a Kings Highway crash, described by his lawyer as his "biggest mistake", that injured others before he dumped his truck.
Joshua Colin Triffett, 35, appeared via audio-visual link in the Queanbeyan Local Court on Thursday charged with 16 driving offences, including negligent and dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm and failing to stop to help after a collision.
Court documents state on the afternoon of October 18 in 2019, Mr Triffett was driving a Hino Dutro truck along Kings Highway at Manar, about 30km east of Bungendore, when it was involved in a collision.
Following the incident, NSW Police said a number of people were injured and taken to Sydney and Canberra hospitals.
Mr Triffett, born in Burnie and now living near Devonport, was working in the area at the time of the incident.
He was extradited to NSW after he failed to appear in court on the previous occasion.
The court heard his previous lawyer withdrew representation after losing contact with him.
Prosecutor William Bruffey opposed Mr Triffett's bail application, saying the main risk was failure to appear in court.
Duty solicitor Michael Bartlett said his instructions from Mr Triffett about the incident was that the car in front "stopped very quickly" that led to the collision.
"I've said to him, 'Your biggest mistake on that day was leaving the scene ... if you hadn't left the scene, it'd be an entirely different scenario'," Mr Bartlett said.
"Then he lost contact with his lawyer and the court. A warrant was issued and he's been extradited and he lives in Tasmania, so he's got problems."
Mr Bartlett said his client, who works as a machinery operator in forestry in Tasmania, was now "facing up to them" and his previous failure to appear was due to COVID lockdown.
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He said his client was willing to stay at a caravan park and report to police daily as part of bail, which if granted, would allow them to "start the wheels turning in talking with the DPP and looking at the evidence".
"There's dashcam footage from his truck, apparently. The issue is we need to see the dashcam footage in order to negotiate [with the NSW DPP]," he said.
"I've had a read of the [alleged] facts. I really wonder if some of these people really have grievous bodily harm. Some of them clearly have, some of them have bruises."
Mr Bartlett said they were not "signalling to turn this into a huge fight" and while pleas have not been entered, it appeared to be a matter that would settle "one way or another".
Magistrate Roger Clisdell refused bail, finding in favour of the prosecution, saying the defendant breached bail previously.
"Two, he [allegedly] left the scene of an accident and then dumped the vehicle and ran off somewhere and dumped his employer as well," Mr Clisdell said.
"Three, he had a surety of $5000 on his last bail, which didn't see him keep his bail."
The defendant, who was recorded as entering not guilty pleas to some of the charges before losing contact with his first lawyer, is scheduled to front court again on March 8.
