Two would-be thieves have admitted their role in killing a Victorian man who confronted them, jumped on their bonnet and was dragged for 80 metres in the dead of night.
Floyd Hennessy and Brandon Cummings were looking for tools to steal from parked cars when Peter Stojanovic ran outside from a house party and made a beeline for them.
The 53-year-old screamed at the pair and jumped on the bonnet of their car. Cummings told Hennessy, then a learner driver, to floor it and swerve the vehicle in order to shake off Mr Stojanovic.
He was killed after he came off and was dragged for 80 metres at about 60 km/h at Dingley Village, in Melbourne's southeast, in December 2019.
A trail of blood and torn clothes was left behind.
Hennessy, 21, has pleaded guilty to culpable driving causing death while his passenger Cummings, 20, pleaded guilty to reckless conduct endangering life.
The younger man's barrister, Jason Gullaci, claimed the men thought they had to escape from Mr Stojanovic when he climbed onto the car.
"They were up to no good in the early hours of the morning, acting in a very stupid, idiotic and immature kind of way," Mr Gullaci told the Victorian Supreme Court on Friday.
"There was a real possibility there would have been an attempt (by their victim) to break the windows and assault them - in their minds."
But Justice Amanda Fox said Cummings was solely responsible for his own conduct.
"There's an explanation for why he did what he did. Things could have gone differently and no doubt everyone wishes they had," she said.
Hennessy was due to face a pre-sentence hearing alongside Cummings on Friday, but could not attend for health reasons.
He'll face court again on May 5. Justice Fox is expected to sentence both men on May 19.
