Rhys Bellinge: Obstetrician pleads guilty to speeding and dangerous driving committed days before fatal crash

An obstetrician who killed a young woman in a drunken, high-speed crash has pleaded guilty to driving recklessly at 45km/h over the speed limit and dangerous driving days before the fatal collision. Rhys Henry Stone Bellinge, 45, is due to be sentenced in the Supreme Court next year for the manslaughter of Uber passenger Elizabeth Pearce, 24, who was killed when his luxury Jaguar sedan ploughed into the rideshare at Dalkeith on February 15. He will also be sentenced for causing grievous bodily harm to Uber driver Muhammad Usman, then aged 25, who was critically injured in the crash. In Perth Magistrates Court on Monday, Bellinge pleaded guilty to speeding at more than 45km/h at Subiaco and driving on the wrong side of the road at Kings Park on February 9 — six nights before the fatal crash. Mr Bellinge appeared via video-link from prison wearing black rimmed glasses and sporting a goatee. When the magistrate asked what he pleaded to the charge of driving recklessly at Subiaco by travelling more than 45km/h over the speed limit he said, “guilty, your honour,” and shook his head. He again said, “guilty, your Honour,” when asked what he pleaded to a charge of dangerous driving on May Drive, Kings Park. Two furthers charges of reckless driving exceeding the speed limit of 45km/h at Nedlands and Dalkeith on the same night were discontinued by the prosecution. As he pleaded guilty his father, prominent doctor and medical entrepreneur Bruce Bellinge, watched on from the gallery of the court room. The court was previously told that on the night of the fatal crash Mr Bellinge was driving from the home of his estranged wife on The Avenue, Nedlands, to his multimillionaire businessman father Bruce Bellinge’s mansion on Jutland Parade. He allegedly reached speeds of 130km/h and had a blood alcohol reading of 0.183 — almost four times over the limit. After travelling a distance of 1.5km, he hit a kerb and lost control of his vehicle causing it to veer onto the wrong side of the road before smashing into Mr Usman’s Honda Jazz on Birdwood Parade. Elizabeth Pearce, who was studying a master’s degree in marine biology at the University of WA, was critically injured at died at Royal Perth Hospital. Pakistani-born Uber driver, Muhammad Usman, sustained two broken legs and a fractured arm and was placed in an induced coma before being moved out of intensive care. Four nights before, Bellinge’s dashcam had recorded him driving recklessly at dangerous speeds around the western suburbs while ranting about his estranged wife. The dashcam recorded him reaching 119km/h in a 70km/h zone on Thomas Street in Subiaco. He then drove on the wrong side of the road in Kings Park. The obstetrician is the son of reproductive biologist Bruce Bellinge credited with establishing Australia’s first private IVF fertility treatment clinic, Concept. It was a group Mr Bellinge was part of until the crash. Mr Bellinge is due to be sentenced in the Supreme Court on February 24.