First court appearance for young man who crashed and rolled friend’s car after night out at pub

A young man has faced court after crashing his friend’s car on a night out driving at nearly 200km/h. His friend pleaded for him to stop before the car slammed into a tree and rolled, injuring them both. Jacob John O’Farrell, 20, pleaded guilty to a charge of careless driving causing bodily harm when he appeared in Narrogin Magistrates Court on April 7. O’Farrell had been drinking with friends at New Cornwall Hotel, Narrogin, on December 2, 2025 before leaving with the designated driver to a lookout in Boundain. Police prosecutor Sgt Warrick Walker told the court that at the location, O’Farrell vomited due to alcohol consumption before getting into the driver’s seat of his friend’s Holden Commodore and locking the car. Sgt Walker said O’Farrell’s friend told him to get out and when the car was unlocked, he sat in the passenger seat and continued to ask O’Farrell to move. He said O’Farrell started driving, his friend put on his seatbelt and began screaming for him to stop the car. Sgt Walker said O’Farrell drove in an easterly direction out of town on Williams-Kondinin Road, reaching speeds of 180km/h on a 110km/h road and “almost crashing at every turn”. O’Farrell struck a tree, causing the vehicle to roll five times before resting on its side, leaving both men unconscious. The court was told they were taken to Narrogin Health Service, where the friend spent more than eight hours being treated for bruising, lacerations, and pericarditis, an inflammation of the pericardium which is the tissue surrounding the heart, causing sharp, stabbing chest pain. O’Farrell was also injured in the crash. An apology letter from O’Farrell and four character references were supplied to magistrate Rosemarie Myers. Defence lawyer David Markovich said the prosecution assumed his client vomited from alcohol, but O’Farrell told him he had drunk “minimal alcohol”, and the fact he had not been charged with drink-driving showed he was not over the 0.05g alcohol limit. Sgt Walker could not confirm if the hospital conducted a blood alcohol test. Mr Markovich said O’Farrell’s friend told police he drove 180km/h, but from the passenger seat he was unable to accurately see the speedometer, adding O’Farrell said he only drove slightly over the limit. He added that the victim also suffered a heart condition before the crash, so the incident may not have caused his pericarditis. Mr Markovich said his client has anxiety and suspected depression, which caused him to stay awake the night before the offence, impairing his decision-making. Mr Markovich said this did not excuse the “extremely dangerous conduct” and O’Farrell was “devastated he put many people at risk of serious injury”. Sgt Walker suggested a term of immediate imprisonment was appropriate to deter these behaviours that cause fatalities and injuries on regional roads. He said the victim was the designated driver but O’Farrell made the conscious decision to drive, injuring them both and destroying his friend’s car. Ms Myers said the offending was a “really serious example of careless driving” and was surprised the charge was not elevated to dangerous driving. She gave the defence a chance to prepare a pre-sentence report because of the seriousness of the offence and sentence outcomes. O’Farrell will next appear on May 5 for sentencing. He also appeared on an unrelated aggravated grievous bodily harm charge, allegedly occurring on September 6 in Narrogin. O’Farrell will appear for a committal mention on July 7 for that charge.