Matthew Valerio: Mazda Ute driver who ran over Sydney parking ranger who tried to give him a fine makes a stunning admission
A man has admitted he is a ‘fool’ after pleading guilty to mowing down a parking attendant who tried to give him a parking fine.
Then 21-year-old Matthew Valerio and his friend left a white Mazda BT-50 in a restricted zone on Marion Street in Enmore, western Sydney, for 40 minutes in November 2022.
The pair returned to the car around 8.50pm and found two parking attendants issuing a fine.
Valerio had shouted ‘hey hey, that’s my car, oh man’, while his friend called the rangers ‘f**king c**ts’ and shouted ‘f**k you’.
Valerio then got behind the wheel of the ute and made a three-point turn before driving towards the rangers and hitting one of them.
Matthew Valerio (pictured) admitted he was a ‘fool’ for leaving a Sydney parking attendant ‘catastrophically injured’ on the road
Valerio faced the New South Wales District Court on Thursday after pleading guilty last November to recklessly causing grievous bodily harm and failing to stop and render assistance after an accident.
Witnesses heard the crash and called emergency services as the two panicked boys drove to Valerio’s mother’s house.
Valerio turned himself in at Newtown police station two hours after the collision and was arrested shortly before 11pm.
His attorney, Evan James, said Valerio believed he had crashed into another car and not one of the rangers.
“He didn’t know… he didn’t see the victim before the collision,” Mr James said. News.com.au reports.
Mr James said his client felt ‘infinitely guilty’ for leaving the ranger ‘in a catastrophic condition on the side of the road’.
The ranger was taken to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in a critical condition.
He was in a coma for two weeks and suffered ‘significant’ injuries including a liver laceration, traumatic brain damage, spinal injuries and pelvic and rib fractures.
The ranger also had to undergo several surgeries, including the placement of screws in his broken right arm.
He had no memory of the collision when he woke up from the coma.
The seriously injured ranger was one of two (photo) who fined Valerio in November 2022
Mr James told Judge Kara Shead that the incident was Valerio’s first offense and that he was a ‘very young person’.
He also stated that sentencing should take into account the time Valerio has already spent behind bars.
“He has acknowledged full responsibility for what he did,” James said.
Valerio waved to his friends and family at the end of Thursday’s hearing as he was taken back into custody.
He will be sentenced on May 29.