Man accused over fatal hit and run crash denied bail

The man accused of hitting and killing an elderly woman while driving unlicensed and in an unregistered car has been denied bail five weeks on from the incident.

At 5.30pm on Thursday, June 5 emergency services were called to Macquarie Avenue, Penrith following reports that a pedestrian had been struck by a vehicle before it drove away from the scene without stopping.

The woman – named as Yaping Ren, believed to be aged in her 60s – was treated by NSW Ambulance Paramedics at the scene but was unable to be revived.

20-year-old Lasaro Tavai is alleged to have been behind the wheel when Ren was struck, he is also accused of failing to stop and render assistance.

Police will allege that Tavai was disqualified from driving as well as being behind the wheel of an unregistered car at the time of the incident.

Tavai was taken to St Marys Police Station where he was charged with dangerous driving occasioning death – drive manner dangerous, negligent driving (occasioning death), fail to stop and assist after impact cause death, drive motor vehicle during disqualification period, and use an unregistered registrable Class A motor vehicle on road and was remanded into custody.

Tavai fronted Penrith Local Court via Audio Visual Link (AVL) earlier today to officially apply for bail after spending the last five weeks in custody at Parklea Correctional Centre.

The prosecution strongly opposed the bail application, outlining the fact that Tavai was on an Intensive Corrections Order (ICO) for other driving offences at the time of the incident.

An ICO is a sentencing option that allows offenders to serve their sentence in the community under supervision, as opposed to in a correctional centre.

Tavai’s defence lawyer informed Magistrate Stephen Corry that the Fijian national was “scared” at the time of the incident which explained his actions after hitting Ren.

The defence also implied they would be contesting the charge of dangerous driving as they believed the alleged offending to be better suited to the lesser charge of negligent driving, this will be contested at a later hearing date.

The defence offered to hand over Tavai’s passport, have his partner post a surety, have Tavai agree to a curfew and not occupy the driver’s seat of a car or drive a car if granted bail.

Magistrate Corry weighed up the submissions made by both the defence and the prosecution before denying Tavai bail.

Corry believe there is a “strong prosecution case” against the offender and believed “there is unacceptable risk to the community” should Tavai be granted bail.

Tavai will remain in custody at Parklea Correctional Centre until his next court hearing in August.

Emily Chate

Emily Chate joined The Western Weekender in 2024, and covers local news - primarily courts and politics. A graduate of the University of Wollongong, Emily has contributed to The Daily Telegraph and worked as a freelance journalist.

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