L-PLATE DRIVER ON HEROIN KILLED THREE

FRANKO Guaitoli saw a teenage learner driver behaving erratically,
pulled up beside him and told him: "This is how to cause an accident,
there is too much traffic," it was alleged yesterday.

In his opening address to Parramatta District Court prosecutor John
Bowers, QC, told how the incident preceded a series of crashes in
which three people died.

"Franko Guaitoli warned the accused and the woman in the passenger
seat - his instructor and girlfriend Karlie Carroll.

"The accused responded 'you got a suggestion' and the girl said 'I
have' and gave him a finger, an insulting gesture."

Mr Guaitoli had seen James Atilla Ress's car repeatedly change lanes,
brake sharply and accelerate.

But shortly after Mr Guaitoli's warning, Ress's car swerved into
another vehicle, causing a series of crashes which killed three people.

The court was told that Ress, then aged 18, was under the influence of
heroin.

Ress, of Narwee, has pleaded not guilty to seven charges, including
three counts of dangerous driving causing death on November 17, 1997.

Mr Bowers said that Mr Guaitoli first noticed Ress's silver Mitsubishi
Cordia when it passed on the inside with its horn sounding.

Judge John Nield was told that after the communication, Ress's car and
Mr Guaitoli's Ford Falcon station wagon stopped adjacent to traffic
lights on Canterbury Rd, near Canterbury railway station.

When the lights changed Ress continued to drive dangerously.

"When the Ford was almost in line with Ress's Cordia, the accused
swerved straight across the centre lane, hitting the side of the
Ford." Mr Bowers said the crash pushed the Ford to the wrong side of
the road and into the path of an oncoming Mazda sedan.

The Mazda's driver Norma Buxton, 66, of Lane Cove, and her father
Joseph Jeckeln, 94, of Wiley Park, her passenger, were killed.

Ress's car continued a short distance into oncoming traffic, crashing
into a white Mitsubishi sedan.

Driver of the sedan Ross Fraser, 77, of Canterbury, died six weeks
later.

The court heard that Mr Fraser's passenger was injured. Mr Guaitoli
and his passenger were injured as was Ms Carroll.

The trial continues today.