AFTER more than two years spent fighting the charges against him, Renzo Zaccagnino has pleaded guilty in relation to the death of two hitch-hiking teenagers on the Oxley Highway.
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The admission has come as a relief, and provides some closure after years of uncertainty, for the families of the two young men who lost their lives in the New Year’s Day tragedy.
Kane Bramble, a 19-year-old from Port Macquarie, and his mate, 16-year-old Clint Ritchie from Wauchope, were hit by a white 4WD as they walked east along the Oxley Highway at 12.30pm on January 1, 2012.
Their families said they hope circumstances surrounding their final moments will be brought to light: “This is all we wanted, all along,” Clint’s older sister said.
“We just want closure, we want to remember Clint for the happy and bubbly boy he was,” she said.
“We want to know what happened to him, and why.”
Mr Zaccagnino, the driver of the Nissan Patrol which struck Clint and his mate as they were thumbing for lifts, is set to face the Port Macquarie District Court for sentencing on Wednesday morning.
The 40-year-old Byabarra man pleaded guilty to dangerous driving occasioning death and driving in a manner dangerous, before the same court on Monday.
He was ready to fight a string of offences in relation to the incident in August last year. But his trial was postponed after “circumstances out of the court’s control”, including a barrister’s attendance at a wedding in Budapest, and a lack of time, which saw it pushed back until this week.
At the time, those closest to the two young men were “shattered” at the revelation.
On Tuesday, Kane’s mother Melanie Steiger said the whole process had been devastating beyond words.
“I want to see justice,” she said. “I’m a little bit relieved, but there’s no closure until it’s all done, until we know the whole story, until he’s sentenced.”
