A MAN accused of driving dangerously when he hit and killed 14-year-old Bryson Dimovski at Warners Bay last year will face a trial in late 2025 focusing on the expert evidence of crash investigators to determine the circumstances and exact location of the crash.
Jaycob Gemza, 22, admits to leaving the scene of the fatal hit-and-run, but denies he was driving dangerously at the time his Ford Falcon struck Bryson as he rode his electric scooter on the shoulder of Macquarie Road about 5.30pm on July 28.
Gemza was arraigned in Newcastle District Court on Thursday and pleaded guilty to a charge of failing to stop and assist after vehicle impact causing death, but not guilty to dangerous driving occasioning death.
He will face a two-week trial in November, 2025, that will focus on a number of crash investigation and reconstruction experts to determine if Gemza was driving dangerously at the time of the crash and where exactly on the road the impact occurred.
Defence barrister, Public Defender Lizzie McLaughlin, said the trial would need to be heard in Newcastle District Court because jurors would be taken on a view of the crash site.
Gemza remains on bail after his lawyers fought off a prosecution detention application in Newcastle Local Court last month.
Bryson was riding his electric scooter on the shoulder of Macquarie Road, 800 metres north of the Medcalf Street intersection, at Warners Bay at 5.30pm on July 28 last year when he was struck by Gemza's Ford Falcon.
His body was found on a grass verge several hours after family and friends started to look for him.
Gemza was arrested at home in the early hours of the following morning.
The court heard last month that Gemza returned to the scene about a minute after he struck Bryson with the vehicle and looked around the area in the dark by the light of the torch on his phone.
The 22-year-old's lawyer said Gemza left the scene after he saw Bryson's scooter, but there was no suggestion he saw the teenager.
However, she said he "ought to reasonably have known" he had at least seriously injured someone.
The court heard Gemza told police in an interview he did not immediately call triple zero because he panicked.
Prosecutors argued it was a serious example of failing to stop after a crash and his failure to help or report the incident caused Bryson's parents - who reported him missing to police - "obvious unnecessary hardship and anguish"
But Magistrate Janine Lacy rejected the detention application because the delay in getting a trial date in Newcastle District Court meant he could end up serving more time in jail than his ultimate non-parole period.
