![Emergency services attended the scene of the crash near Kootingal. Picture by Peter Hardin Emergency services attended the scene of the crash near Kootingal. Picture by Peter Hardin](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/150521478/ec017ee1-3fbf-4689-b9b4-5f5ab06319f1.jpg/r0_0_1200_675_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
CHARGES against a man involved in a fatal crash on the outskirts of Tamworth have been upgraded in court.
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A more serious dangerous driving charge has been levelled against Craig Crosland - the man accused of being behind the wheel of a ute when it crashed into a van and killed one person.
Crosland did not appear in Tamworth Local Court when his Legal Aid defence solicitor Wendy McAuliffe said police had added a new "strictly indictable charge" for the fatal crash on the New England Highway, near Kootingal, in March 2022.
"There is a brief [of evidence], it's not compliant," she told the court.
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Ms McAuliffe asked the court to adjourn the matter to a Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) day to deal with the more serious charge.
The fresh charge - which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years' imprisonment, if convicted - comes after the prosecution adjourned the matter last month while they awaited advice from a "serious motor vehicle collision" authority in Sydney.
Crosland now faces one charge of dangerous driving occasioning death; negligent driving occasioning death; and three counts of negligent driving without causing death or grievous bodily harm.
![Emergency services attended the crash outside Tamworth in March, 2022. Picture by Peter Hardin Emergency services attended the crash outside Tamworth in March, 2022. Picture by Peter Hardin](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/150521478/3ff9e1f5-14b2-4da2-bcc7-6a8f9a624376.jpg/r0_52_1058_649_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
It's alleged the South Tamworth man was behind the wheel of a white 1988 Nissan Navara ute when it collided with a van near the Sandy Road and Porcupine Lane intersection on the New England Highway on March 28, 2022.
The police case is Crosland was driving the vehicle negligently between 11.48am and 1.30pm that day.
Emergency services were called to the two-vehicle crash which hospitalised four people.
One person later died in hospital.
Following a lengthy police investigation, Crosland was charged by investigators in January.
He has not been required to enter any pleas.
The matter will return to court later this month.
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