Driver to fight sentence after deadly charity rally crash kills passenger

Csaba Somogyi was handed a 12-month community-based prison sentence and disqualified from driving for two years but has now lodged an application to appeal his case.

Somogyi was sentenced in the Downing Centre Local Court in Sydney after he was found guilty of negligent driving occasioning death after a week-long hearing in Tamworth during September.

Somogyi was convicted of the lone offence after the passenger in his car died on March 5, 2020, at Borah Creek, between Manilla and Barraba.

At the time of the crash, Somogyi was participating in the Riverina Redneck Rally, which raises money for Country Hope, a charity supporting children with cancer.

Somogyi had maintained his innocence to the charge, and was found guilty by magistrate Brett Shields in Tamworth Local Court in November.

Organisers of the rally, other participants, investigating police officers, and independent crash investigators gave evidence during the hearing.

While handing down his verdict, Mr Shields said Somogyi had driven negligently due to a combination of speed, and the path he chose to take the corner at before the fatal crash.

Mr Shields said Somogyi had been driving at least 81km per hour when he entered the corner, and had driven on the loose gravel of the unsealed road, rather than the main path.

The matter was adjourned to Sydney for a sentence to be handed down last week.

During the proceedings, Mr Shields convicted Somogyi and sentenced him to a 12-month intensive corrections order, or ICO, for the negligent driving charge.

After the sentence was handed down, Somogyi lodged an all grounds appeal and is set to fight the conviction and sentence in the district court.

Somogyi will appear in the district court in Sydney in February 2024 to set a date for his appeal.

Somogyi remains on conditional bail to live in Sydney.