Police allege drivers swapped seats after a Christchurch crash in which two men were killed.
The crash took place at 7.40pm on Halswell Junction Rd, near the intersection of Shands Rd, when a ute and a car collided.
Two of the four occupants of the car were killed and two others were taken to hospital in a critical and serious condition.
The two occupants of the ute were transported to hospital with moderate injuries.
The police named the dead men as Mark Graham Nicholl (30) and William John Clark (29), both from Christchurch, who were found dead at the scene.
At court yesterday, Matthew Allan Gibbons (21), of Christchurch, was charged with wilfully attempting to pervert the course of justice by ‘‘swapping driver’s seat following your involvement in a fatal vehicle crash’’.
He was remanded without plea to appear again before a registrar on May 11.
A 54-year-old Linwood man faced the same charge, as well being a party to the alleged dangerous driving by another man — Shanan Nicholl — which caused the two deaths and injury to another man.
The Linwood man had not reported to the registrar’s counter hours after his listed appearance time.
Shanan Nicholl (28), of Waltham, was remanded by a registrar without plea for another appearance on May 10.
He is charged with dangerous driving causing the two deaths and the injury.
Ricky William Nicholl, a 30-year-old labourer from Hororata, was charged with wilfully attempting to pervert the course of justice by swapping seats after his involvement in the fatal crash, and being a party to the dangerous driving that caused two deaths and an injury.
He was also remanded to May 10 by a registrar, without plea.
By David Clarkson
