The sole survivors of a car crash which killed three backseat passengers both deny driving the car that sped away from police beforehand, a Sydney inquest has heard.
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Adut Mathang, Roza Mawin, Beanika Goak, all in their 30s, died after the white Holden Commodore they were travelling in sharply accelerated to avoid a random breath test in the early hours of February 20, 2016 in western Sydney.
At the time of her death, Ms Goak, 36, had eight children, while Ms Mawin, 36, had five children and one grandchild.
After the car travelled more than 48.4km/h over the speed limit to reach 98.4km/h as later assessed by an expert, it collided with a power pole and flipped onto its roof on Railway Road in Marayong.
John Wol, who was travelling in the front of his car with Asunta Jongkor when it crashed, originally told police he was too drunk to remember who was behind the wheel.
He later denied driving the Commodore and blamed Ms Jongkor, but she maintains she was the front seat passenger.
Senior Constable Kaan Sengoz was out on patrol when he noticed a vehicle with no headlights driving unusually slowly and said something like "that's suss as" to his partner.
He told the inquest he clearly saw the male driver - who had short black hair and was wearing a yellow mustard shirt with triangles - as if it was "day" because his headlights shone straight into the vehicle.
Mr Wol's shirt, a crucial piece of evidence, has never been found.
After Sen Const Sengoz turned on his red and blue lights and honked his horn to pull the vehicle over, it pulled away and he asked another sergeant for pursuit backup.
Without the car registration number, Sen Const Sengoz said it would have been "next to impossible" to locate the car if it had successfully got away.
The final moments leading up to the crash are unclear, but Ms Jongkor remembered Ms Goak standing up in the car and pulling on the steering wheel, causing the car to zigzag before becoming airborne.
Sen Const Sengoz watched the car "swerve three or four times before pulling to the left, hitting the gutter and flipping several times" into a front yard.
"It seemed the police pursuit was almost over as soon as it began," counsel assisting the coroner Tim Hammond told the court.
The next call to police asked for urgent assistance, describing two people in the car as "dismembered".
"There was wreckage everywhere ... bits and pieces all over the yard and roadway ... The car was on its roof ... almost like it had split in two," Sen Const Sengoz said.
He saw Mr Wol with a severely injured arm, wailing in pain.
Before the incident, the group of friends had been celebrating at a gathering at Ms Mawin's house in Marayong with several other local members of the South Sudanese community when Mr Wol complained of injuring his arm, the inquest heard.
Someone suggested calling an ambulance but the friends decided to accompany Mr Wol to hospital.
The group - bar Ms Mawin - later registered high blood-alcohol levels.
Police charges laid against Mr Wol were subsequently withdrawn.
Mr Hammond said there is no issue surrounding the cause of death - multiple blunt force injuries - but hopes the inquest will find out who was driving the car and whether the police pursuit was warranted.
The inquest continues before Deputy State Coroner Derek Lee.
Australian Associated Press