A ride-hailing driver has been granted bail after being accused of killing a young lawyer in a horror collision with police claiming the accused man was illegally using his phone at the time of the crash.
Zisi Kokotatsios, 63, appeared in the Parramatta Bail Court on Saturday to make a bail application after spending a night in custody.
Police allege he illegally used his phone at around 4am on March 17 while driving along Fletcher St in Sydney’s eastern suburb of Tamarama, on his way to pick up a rideshare customer.
Zisi Kokotatsios (pictured) has been granted bail after being charged with hit-and-run death
On Saturday, the police prosecutor said surveillance footage captured the moment Mr Kokotatsios allegedly hit Mitch East and his car was “lifted.”
“An audible crash sound was captured on CCTV near the scene and the vehicle slowed significantly before fleeing,” he said.
“There is no doubt that the driver of the vehicle knew he had hit something.”
Despite the efforts of paramedics, Mr East was pronounced dead at the scene.
The court heard that the 28-year-old lawyer was ‘lying in the street’ at the time of the collision.
Police allege that Mr Kokotatsios was distracted because he was using his mobile phone while driving, which meant he did not see Mr East on the road.
“The suspect did something wrong and someone died as a result,” the prosecutor said.
He claimed the rideshare driver did not stop to check on or help the injured man, but instead continued driving.
“If he had stopped and looked, he would have seen a dying person lying there,” the prosecutor said.
Mitch East (pictured with his girlfriend Natasha Dunsbee-Brown), 28, was found by a passer-by with serious head and chest injuries on Fletcher Street, Tamarama, just after 4am on Sunday.
He noted that the 63-year-old had been charged in December last year for using his mobile phone while driving, which he said showed a pattern of disregard for road safety.
However, Kokotatsios’ lawyer Mohamad Sakr argued that police “do not have any substantial evidence” to prove that his client was illegally using his mobile phone, which was in a permitted holder.
He rejected the prosecution’s claim that the case against his client was “compelling”, arguing that there were a number of problems and “obvious concerns” with the prosecution’s case.
“It is accepted that Mr Kokotatsios hit something,” he said.
“We don’t know… that it was indeed my client who killed this young man.”
Mr Sakr questioned whether police had any viable evidence on whether Mr Kokotatsios’ actions “in fact resulted in death”.
He said the alleged victim had posed a risk to himself by lying on the ground, and claimed his client would have stopped to render aid if he knew he had hit someone.
Officers are processing the crime scene in Tamarama on Sunday following the alleged collision
The court heard the rideshare driver sometimes wears glasses while driving.
The magistrate agreed there were “issues” with the prosecution’s case relating to the cause of Mr East’s death and “what (Mr Kokotatsios) did while he was driving”.
“That’s all for another day,” he said.
He granted the ride-hailing driver bail under strict conditions requiring him to report to police once a week and not to approach any point of international departure.
The 63-year-old will return to court in May.
He is charged with failing to stop and render assistance after a collision with a vehicle causing death, dangerous driving causing death – dangerous driving, careless driving (causing death) and use of a mobile phone by the driver when this is not permitted.