Bryce James Dridan, 31, from Wendouree near Ballarat, was found not guilty of negligently causing the death of Trent DeZoete, 18, when his modified vehicle crashed during a car event in November 2023. The jury deliberated for less than a day before acquitting Dridan on charges including culpable driving and dangerous driving causing death. However, key details about Dridan's past, such as crashing a $350,000 Lamborghini and allegedly zip-tying a toddler "for laughs," were not presented to the jury despite his prior criminal history.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-05,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
The jury which cleared a driver who killed a teenage boy when he lost control of his souped-up hotrod at a hoons' burnout never heard key details of his past.
asserted
he → clear → past
Bryce James Dridan, 31, of Wendouree near Ballarat, walked free from the County Court of Victoria on Thursday after he was found not guilty of negligently causing the death of Trent DeZoete, 18.
asserted
he → walk → DeZoete
Dridan was behind the wheel of a modified ute at the Stawell LOO5ENATS event on November 4, 2023, when he hit Mr DeZoete in a crowded public area after his car's brakes failed.
asserted
brakes → hit → area
Mr DeZoete, from Pimpinio in Victoria's west, suffered catastrophic injuries in the incident and died at the scene.
asserted
DeZoete → suffer → scene
Dridan was acquitted after a weeks-long trial, with the jury taking less than a day to reach its verdict.
asserted
jury → acquit → verdict
The jury also found Dridan not guilty of the alternative charge of dangerous driving causing death.
asserted
Dridan → find → death
But the Daily Mail can reveal the jury never heard how he once crashed a $350,000 Lamborghini after losing control of it.
asserted
he → reveal → it
They were also never told about allegations he zip-tied a toddler 'for laughs', charges of which he was later cleared.
asserted
he → tell → which
Bryce James Dridan (right) was found not guilty of culpable driving and walked free from court
Dridan’s previous criminal history reveals how he ploughed the Lamborghini Gallardo into a Ballarat home just four months after he killed Mr DeZoete.
asserted
he → find → DeZoete
The father of three pleaded guilty in Ballarat Magistrates' Court on December 18, 2024, to failing to control his vehicle, refusing a drug test and driving without registration plates.
asserted
father → plead → plates
Dridan was fined $1,500 without conviction and was disqualified from driving for the minimum period of four years for refusing a drug test.
asserted
Dridan → fin → test
The jury also never heard how Dridan allegedly bound a 'distraught' toddler's wrists and ankles using zip ties, and filmed it 'for laughs'.
Dridan was charged with producing child abuse material, distributing child abuse material, false imprisonment, and common law assault.
But in February, Magistrate Julia Barling ruled the prosecution had no case and found Dridan not guilty on all charges.
uncertain
Dridan → hear → charges
According to the prosecution, Dridan was babysitting the boy in May 2025, who was about three years old, when he bound the child's wrists behind his back and tied his ankles together using zip ties.
uncertain
he → accord → ties
He then allegedly filmed the child, who the prosecution described as 'distraught' and 'screaming hysterically', while he was crying for his mother, the Ballarat Courier reported.
uncertain
Courier → film → mother
Trent DeZoete, 18, died where he fell after being struck by Dridan's ute
Footage played to the court allegedly showed Dridan panning the camera to the zip-tied limbs while asking the boy: 'Who spilled the popcorn?'
uncertain
Who → die → popcorn
He then sent the footage to the child's mother via Snapchat.
asserted
He → send → Snapchat
The child's paternal grandmother alerted police after she saw the footage.
asserted
she → alert → footage
During his police interview, Dridan allegedly said it was 'just a bit of a laugh' and that the child had been 'laughing' during similar play at an earlier date.
uncertain
child → say → date
Last week, Dridan's County Court jury was told Dridan had methamphetamine in his system when he climbed into his heavily modified 2001 Holden Commodore ute with his mate in the passenger seat and roared onto the burnout pad.
asserted
he → tell → pad
Within seconds the brakes failed.
asserted
brakes → fail → seconds
The court heard the rear brake rotors, callipers, pads and the handbrake had all been ripped out.
asserted
rotors → hear → ?
A fluid line on the front passenger side ruptured under the strain of full-lock steering and the pedal went soft.
asserted
pedal → rupture → steering
Dridan crashed a Lamborghini Gallardo into a Ballarat home just four months after killing Mr DeZoete
Dridan's crash in the luxury supercar was shared on social media
The court heard Dridan pumped the brakes, yanked the handbrake and even switched the engine off, but the Commodore powered forward.
asserted
Commodore → crash → engine
Crown prosecutor John Dickie told the jury fire marshals waved frantically and yelled for him to stop.
asserted
him → tell → jury
One had the car brush his leg while it ran over the foot of another, he said.
asserted
he → have → another
Witnesses said the ute accelerated off the pad, well above the strict 5km/h 'walking pace' limit, blasted past the fire marshal zone, missed the left-hand turn back to the pits and careered straight into the crowded food-court area.
asserted
ute → say → area
Mr DeZoete was walking in with a mate who leapt clear and screamed a warning to the teen, but he had no time to react.
asserted
he → walk → time
The court heard the bonnet-less Commodore smashed into him, threw him onto the engine bay, then dragged him under the front as the car finally began to slow.
asserted
car → hear → front
Bystanders frantically lifted the ute off the dying teenager and first aid was started on the spot.
asserted
aid → lift → spot
Mr DeZoete was pronounced dead at the scene.
asserted
DeZoete → pronounce → scene
A roadside oral fluid test on Dridan came back positive for methylamphetamine.
asserted
test → come → methylamphetamine
The ute which killed Trent DeZoete in the burnout event tragedy.
asserted
which → kill → tragedy
Video posted to social media showed it in action in 2020
A blood sample taken later that evening showed 0.20 mg/L - a level experts said was high enough to seriously impair driving skills and create a significant public risk.
Dridan admitted to police he had taken 'a bit of f****n’… cocaine, I don’t know' the previous weekend.
He told officers at the scene he had 'lost his brakes' and 'couldn’t do anything'.
asserted
he → post → anything
In a formal interview he made no comment.
asserted
he → make → comment
Mr Dickie argued a lethal combination of meth-impaired driving, knowingly continuing once the brakes had failed, and ploughing into a pedestrian zone instead of slamming into safety barriers or tyres amounted to criminal negligence.
asserted
brakes → argue → negligence
'It was inevitable, if not a very real and significant risk, that a person would be hit outside the arena and cause serious injury or lose their life,' he said.
asserted
he → hit → life
Prosecutors said Dridan had a 'long, long history of drug use' and allegedly received 10 penalty notices in the past decade or so for various actions, including driving without P-plates, using a mobile phone, speeding four times, and having an unrestrained passenger under 16, the Herald Sun reported.
uncertain
Sun → say → 16
The Pimpinio Football and Netball Club paid tribute to Mr DeZoete following his tragic death
They said three of his vehicles had been seized as evidence or impounded, but that Dridan had access to a large number of cars through his work as a self-employed mechanic.
Dridan's lawyer Alexander Patton told the jury the incident was caused by a 'complete absence of safety features' by the event organisers.
asserted
incident → pay → organisers
Mr Patton questioned why the exit to the burnout arena led into a heavily frequented area where cars shared the road with pedestrians.
asserted
cars → question → pedestrians
'The only thing separating (pedestrians and vehicles) was a single plastic bollard with a bit of bunting tied to it,' he said.
asserted
he → separate → it
…and 20 more, not listed.
The Aporia
