ACT jury finds Ameen Hamdan not guilty of culpable driving charges and guilty of back-up charges after fatal crash

An ACT Supreme Court trial had heard that, in the early hours of October 31 in 2020, Ameen Hamdan was driving a Nissan Navara that carried his girlfriend, 16-year-old Alexis Saaghy and two friends, 16 and 18.

Hamdan, 18 at the time, was driving along Longmore Crescent in Wanniassa in wet conditions.

Prosecutors alleged that Hamdan, who was not intoxicated, was speeding at 81km/h - 100km/h in the 50km/h zone when the car began sliding on a left-hand bend before the vehicle collided with a tree.

All four occupants were injured with Alexis sustaining severe head trauma and internal injuries.

The girl was seated in the front passenger seat where the primary damage was caused, the court heard.

She was taken to the Canberra Hospital where she died three days later.

Prior to the crash, Alexis recorded a video inside the vehicle in which the song Tokyo Drift played and Hamdan called himself the "drift king".

The court heard that the speed of the vehicle in that short video, recorded about 1.2km from the collision site, was about 32km/h covering 125m.

Hamdan had pleaded not guilty to culpable driving causing death and culpable driving causing grievous bodily harm, with the latter charge relating to one of the back-seat passengers.

After five days of hearing evidence, the jury on Monday delivered not guilty verdicts to both the charges.

The jury found Hamdan guilty of the back-up charges of negligent driving causing death and negligent driving causing grievous bodily harm.

Outside court following the verdicts, Alexis' mother, Claire Wood, remembered her daughter as "the sweetest, kindest person I knew".

"She was going to pick her path and how she was going to help society. She was ripped from this f---ing planet," Ms Wood said.

"From my earliest memories of Alexis, she stuck up for people who were being hard done or hurt by others ... and she never stopped that."

Ms Wood said her daughter was also passionate about the environment and her music interests included The Beatles, Elton John, and David Bowie.

She said she felt "a bit numbed" about the outcome, saying "the worst part is that nothing is going to bring Alexis back".

"I was always so proud of her," Ms Wood said.

Alexis' father, Joel Saaghy, said "this has been an emotional week and a half, and a painful two years".

"Whilst this does not bring my daughter back, the justice system recognises that Ameen Hamdan is guilty of killing Alexis," he said.

During the trial, the court heard from the two surviving passengers, police officers, collision experts, a Longmore Crescent resident, and Hamdan.

The offender gave evidence that he could not remember the events on the day in question and that since the collision, he has had five surgeries to his left eye.

The court heard he has seen doctors about a mild traumatic brain injury or cognitive dysfunction.

The collision experts - one for the prosecution and one for the defence - disagreed about a number of factors, including speed.

The latter expert, Nigel McDonald, calculated the speed at the point of impact with the tree to be 35km/h - 41km/h.

Working back from there, he determined the Navara was travelling no less than 49km/h at the start of "the observed tyre marks".

The resident on that street gave evidence that the vehicle "sounded really quite fast".

Defence lawyer John Purnell SC in his closing address on Friday said that before the collision, Hamdan yelled "f---" and that one of the passengers said he thought he saw a kangaroo.

"The Crown can't prove any irresponsible driving from when the video was recorded until the collision site," he said.

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Crown prosecutor Soraya Saikal-Skea in her closing address said that while complex scientific evidence had been presented, it "ultimately was a common-sense case".

Ms Saikal-Skea alleged Hamdan "failed unjustifiably and to a gross degree to observe the standard of care that a reasonable person would have observed".

She criticised the defence expert, Nigel McDonald, for not reading the data that formed the basis of the police investigation.

"We say that fact alone raises a red flag about reliability," Ms Saikal-Skea said.

Prior to the verdicts, Justice Michael Elkaim on Monday morning gave directions to the jury about the kangaroo.

Justice Michael Elkaim on Monday morning told jurors if they could not exclude as a reasonable possibility that Hamdan's swerve before the crash was caused by avoiding a kangaroo, then they must find Hamdan not guilty of culpable driving.

"Also remember that nobody actually saw a kangaroo," he said.

A sentencing date for the negligent driving offences is yet to be fixed.

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