A man who was involved in a fatal collision admitted that he had been drinking alcoholbeforehand.

Khyle Beckett, 32, pleaded guilty to impaired driving last Wednesday in Magistrates’ Court.

The court heard that Beckett, from Paget, was driving a water truck along North Shore Road in Devonshire when he stopped at a roundabout on Barker’s Hill.

The defendant allowed traffic clear on the roundabout before he signalled and made a right turn to go up Barker’s Hill.

But as he turned a motorcyclist, 49-year-old Marco Bowen, collided with the right side of the water truck.

The accident occurred at 5.30pm in rush-hour traffic. Mr Bowen was taken to hospital, but later pronounced dead.

When police arrived, Beckett admitted that he had consumed alcohol beforehand, and was arrested. A breath test at the Hamilton Police Station revealed that Beckett had 96 milligrams of alcohol for every 100 millilitres of blood. The legal limit is 80mg/100ml. The incident took place on October 9 last year.

Magistrate Tyrone Chin fined Beckett $1,500 and banned him from the roads for 18 months. The court did not hear any reference to the crash having been fatal.

The Department of Public Prosecutions did not respond to a request for comment.

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