By Sarah McPhee
Minutes after being pulled from the twisted wreckage of a horror crash that killed two young boys in Sydney’s south, a nine-year-old girl told police the car had been “racing”.
“[He] was going too fast,” she said of the driver, 34-year-old Jimmy Martin Brito. “He said he wouldn’t crash, but then he slipped off the road and crashed.”
Neighbours and passing motorists rushed to the scene outside a home on The Grand Parade at Monterey, near Brighton-le-Sands, drawn to the sound and a large plume of dust and smoke.
A nine-year-old boy in the front passenger seat and his 10-year-old brother seated behind Brito were unresponsive and critically injured. They were taken to Sydney Children’s Hospital but pronounced dead.
Nine short videos recovered from the older boy’s iPhone captured glimpses of the car’s eight-kilometre, high-speed race between 9.42pm and 9.48pm on August 25, 2023, when Brito lost control and slammed into a tree.
Two boys, aged 9 and 10, died in the crash at Monterey in Sydney’s south.Credit: Nine News
The details of what happened in those six minutes can be revealed after Brito pleaded guilty late last month to two counts of manslaughter by criminal negligence and one count of causing bodily harm by misconduct.
According to the agreed facts, obtained by this masthead, Brito had driven the three children to La Perouse that night in his blue Subaru WRX, stopping at 7-Eleven to buy some drinks.
The surviving girl later told police she had played a “running and tackling” game with the boys and “obstacle courses on the rocks”. She said they left the area “because we were going to this other beach to play”.
The girl said they went past a grey car, which “revved its engine … like, it said it wants to race”. She said Brito “didn’t want to race”, and they put their seatbelts on and left La Perouse, but the other car followed.
At 9.42pm, as the two cars drove along Foreshore Road in Botany, the grey Audi “accelerated away”, and Brito’s Subaru “increased speed”, the facts state. “As this occurred, a child in the Subaru squealed. The Subaru then rapidly accelerated past the Audi at significant speed.”
The second phone video briefly caught the speedometer of Brito’s Subaru, which was “travelling over 140 km/h at one point” in an 80 km/h zone.
In the third video, when the Subaru was behind the Audi, the younger boy pointed out the front windscreen and said, “There”, to which Brito said, “Where?”
Once on The Grand Parade, a child’s voice was heard saying, “Go on that side”. Brito replied, “I can’t. I gotta wait.”
Further videos showed Brito’s Subaru “rapidly” moving between lanes and overtaking slower vehicles.
The girl told police she felt “scared and nervous” as Brito “went faster and faster”.
The ninth video, taken at 9.48pm and lasting nine seconds, “captured the last moments of the Subaru” before it left the road. Brito “accelerated and overtook the Audi at speed” as he negotiated a slight right-hand bend.
The manoeuvre was captured on CCTV from a home about 200 metres from the crash site. A police officer determined Brito was driving at no less than 136 km/h in the 60 km/h zone.
“The final seconds of video nine captured the Subaru as it veered right from the right lane and mounted the raised centre median,” the facts state.
The engine was left five metres from the Subaru.Credit: Seven News
The girl remembered Brito saying the other car “lost”, which she thought was because they had beaten them.
“And then we crashed into the tree,” she said.
The Subaru narrowly missed a car being driven in the opposite direction, mounted the kerb, slid, and “collided heavily” into a large tree with a 2.05-metre circumference.
The first triple-zero call was made about 9.49pm. Ambulance notes state Brito was “dazed” and “tearful”, and police recorded him waking up and mumbling, “What happened? Where am I?”
Flowers and toys left at the crash site on The Grand Parade.Credit: Edwina Pickles
The Subaru’s engine, fitted with performance modifications, was flung five metres away, the front bonnet, front and rear bumpers and front passenger side door all detached, and the speedometer was left displaying 80 km/h.
Brito sustained pelvic fractures, lung bruising and a small bleed on the brain and was taken to St George Hospital. No drugs or alcohol were found in his system. He was charged, his licence suspended, and he has remained in custody in the year since the crash.
Prosecutors say Brito breached his duty of care, and his driving involved a high risk of death or serious injury.
Brito’s case returns to Downing Centre District Court on September 27. An offence of organising or promoting a street race will be taken into account upon sentence, while alternative charges, including aggravated dangerous driving occasioning death, have been withdrawn.
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