![Jayden Luke Taylor fronted his sentence hearing in the Tamworth District Court. Picture file Jayden Luke Taylor fronted his sentence hearing in the Tamworth District Court. Picture file](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/150521478/3f52b8d1-53b7-4c9f-b7a9-9e7a4c608c3c.jpg/r0_285_5568_3428_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
A MAN who was behind the wheel of a ute when it rolled, and fatally injured his friend who was in the back of the tray, has told a court he wishes the crash "never ever happened".
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The court heard the 28-year-old was pig hunting with two men in a paddock on the night of June 5, 2022, when the Toyota Hilux he was driving lost control and rolled.
One of the men, who was unrestrained in the back of the tray, suffered fatal injuries and later died at the scene.
In the witness box, Taylor told the court he had been friends with the deceased for about eight or nine years, and he regularly went pig hunting.
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"I've done it all my life, I was brought up around it, I love doing it," Taylor said.
The 28-year-old told the court after the ute rolled, the now deceased was still conscious and able to walk.
"We helped him ... we laid him across the back seat, he was still talking normal," Taylor told the court.
The 28-year-old said it was at this point the victim told him he was due to become a father.
The court heard Taylor drove the ute, which had smoke coming out of the bonnet, back to the road to get mobile phone service to call an ambulance.
"He [deceased] wanted me to just get him home, he wanted me to keep driving the ute," Taylor said.
Emergency services arrived at Long Arm Road at Borah Creek just after 8.15pm.
Taylor was charged with dangerous driving occasioning death by driving in a dangerous manner, to which he has previously pleaded guilty, after a three month investigation by police.
His licence was also suspended in the wake of the crash.
During cross-examination, Taylor told the court he had continued to go pig hunting since the crash, but had not gotten behind the wheel.
He told the court he now thinks a lot more while hunting since the accident, but hasn't changed how he does things.
"There's no other way you can really change how you do it," the 28-year-old said.
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) solicitor said the court would have some concern by Taylor continuing to hunt in the same way, excluding being behind the wheel.
"The Crown says the court would have some measure of concern that Mr Taylor continues to engage in such activities, in circumstance where he knows better than anyone what the ramifications of that activity could be," the DPP solicitor said.
He said the offending had crossed the threshold for a prison sentence, but it was in the court's hand as to whether this should be served in full-time custody, or in the community.
Public defender for Taylor, Stuart Bouveng, said the 28-year-old, who was flanked by family members of his own, and of the deceased, had shown real remorse in the wake of the offending.
"It's not self pity," Mr Bouveng said.
Judge Andrew Coleman adjourned the case to hand down the sentence next week.
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