An Invercargill man has pleaded not guilty to leaving the scene of a crash which killed a Southland doctor last year.
Creed Michael Perkins (19) appeared in the Invercargill District Court, where his lawyer, Tanya McCullum, entered a not-guilty plea to a charge of failing to stop or ascertain injury or death after a crash.
Perkins was the sole passenger in a vehicle driven by a 21-year-old man, who also faces charges in relation to the incident.
Ms McCullum said her client elected a judge-alone trial.
Dr Giovan Vincent Anthony De Croos (81), of Invercargill, died following the crash on State Highway 1 [Bluff Highway], near the Waimatua Creek bridge, on December 5.
Dr De Croos was the single occupant of a Nissan Tiida and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Perkins was remanded at large until a case review hearing on June 14.
The driver has been charged with driving with excess breath-alcohol causing death and failing to stop or ascertain injury or death after a crash.
Judge Farnan excused the nonappearance of the man, who was granted interim name suppression, in court yesterday.
His lawyer, Kate McHugh, asked the judge to remand her client without a plea and he would be appearing again in court on May 18.
Dr De Croos, who was born in Sri Lanka, had been an award-winning weightlifter and weightlifting coach in Southland for decades.
