Lamborghini driver Alexander Campbell not guilty of killing Sophia Naismith by dangerous driving
A man who hit and killed a teenage girl while cruising his Lamborghini three years ago has been found not guilty of death by dangerous driving.
A judge acquitted Adelaide man Alexander Campbell of the charge on Thursday in a judge-alone trial in South Australia‘s District Court.
Campbell had previously pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of driving without due care and will be sentenced on that charge at a later date.
Adelaide man Alexander Campbell (pictured) who hit and killed a teenage girl with his Lamborghini three years ago has been found not guilty of death by dangerous driving
Sophia Naismith (pictured), 15, died when the Lamborghini Huracan mounted a kerb and struck her and a friend before crashing into the door of a restaurant in June 2019
Sophia Naismith, 15, died when the Lamborghini Huracan mounted a kerb and struck her and a friend before crashing into the door of a restaurant in June 2019.
The two girls were walking along a footpath at the time.
The judge ruled that it could not be proven beyond reasonable doubt that Mr Campbell deliberately accelerated in a manner that was dangerous.
Prosecutor Kos Lesses previously said during the pre-trial hearing he would show Mr Campbell was driving in one of the car’s ‘sports modes’ and should have known that accelerating was dangerous.
‘The defendant must have known that when the vehicle was subject to certain speed or accelerating in a particular way when driven in sports mode, that it would lose rear wheel traction and lose control,’ Mr Lesses told the court.
The judge ruled on Thursday that it could not be proven beyond reasonable doubt that Mr Campbell deliberately accelerated in a manner that was dangerous
‘He knew full well that that could happen because it happened that very evening, probably within minutes of leaving his house.’
Mr Campbell had owned the $330,000 luxury car, with personalised number plates that read ‘PSYKO’, for four months before the accident.
He will be sentenced at a later date for aggravated driving without due care.
