The evidence came in the second day of Zhudu Unal’s trial for allegedly driving dangerously causing the two deaths and causing the woman grievous bodily harm.

The incident related to a head-on crash where the accused man’s vehicle collided with the alleged victims’ vehicle on the wrong side of the road about six kilometres north of Gilgandra on the Newell Highway.

The accused and another family were on their way back to Dubbo from Brisbane after an Easter holiday in 2006.

Mr Unal pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The mother and wife of the two deceased people told Dubbo District Court yesterday the three of them and her youngest son were travelling from Victoria back to their home in Queensland. She can not be named for legal reasons.

The woman told the court she had been driving for a while that day and her husband had been sleeping.

She said they received a phone call about 20 kilometres outside of Forbes while she was driving.

“The phone call woke him (her husband) up,” she said.

“He’d been asleep nearly three hours.”

The family stopped at Forbes and the woman’s husband drove from there. They made a brief stop in Dubbo for petrol and a drink before continuing on the Newell.

They were then stopped for a random breath test in Gilgandra, the court heard.

The woman’s last memory before the crash was going over a bridge shortly after that, as she then slept while her husband drove.

She told the court the next thing she remembered was her youngest son yelling at her to wake up.

The woman lost an eye and suffered facial injuries in the crash.

A friend of Mr Unal, Omur Bildiren, was sharing the

driving from Queensland back to Dubbo. He also gave evidence to the court yesterday about their trip.

Mr Bildiren said he had known Mr Unal for 10 years and

the accused had been working at his shop in Dubbo during the months leading up to the incident.

“(Mr Unal) is a very good person in the community,” Mr Bildiren told the court. “He’s a very good driver.”

The court also heard from two constables who attended the scene and a man who stopped to assist when he was driving through.

The trial will continue today.