FIREFIGHTING helicopter pilot Ian Pullen would not have survived the injuries he sustained when he was struck by a car on a quiet stretch of road outside Singleton in the early hours of September 29, 2018.
A forensic pathologist would later opine that Mr Pullen - who was walking from the pub back to his accommodation after only hours earlier arriving in Australia - would have died within half-an-hour of being knocked down, with or without medical assistance.
But Joshua Knight - the man driving the Toyota HiLux that hit Mr Pullen - and Nicole Mason - one of Knight's passengers - didn't know that.
When they got out of the car to check on a badly injured Mr Pullen he was still alive.
But instead of trying to offer him medical assistance or call triple-zero, the pair left the scene.
Then Knight, now 31, did everything he could to conceal what he had done.
Later on the day Mr Pullen was hit and killed, Knight fled from police in a pursuit and then hid his car at a number of houses.
A few days later, Knight intentionally drove his car into the fence at the Singleton Rugby Club in order to provide an alternative explanation for the damage it sustained when he struck Mr Pullen.
When they were finally arrested, after two years of appeals for public information and a $350,000 reward, Knight and Mason were initially charged with murder, police alleging Knight had hit Mr Pullen with his HiLux and then fled the scene before returning with Mason, who got out and "finished the job", striking Mr Pullen in the head with an object.
The murder charges were withdrawn in July when the forensic pathologist opined Mr Pullen would have died from the initial hit-and-run and Mason was then charged with attempted murder, prosecutors alleging she had the intent to kill Mr Pullen despite the fatal injuries he had already suffered.
Knight and Mason were expected to face a trial but on Friday, after weeks of negotiations between the DPP and defence lawyers, they were re-arraigned in Newcastle District Court and pleaded guilty.
Knight admitted to the hit-and-run while Mason pleaded guilty to concealing the crash after the DPP withdrew the attempted murder charge.
The pair, who remain behind bars, will be sentenced in June.
