HERALDSUN.COM.AU FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2013 NEWS 03

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FROM LAMBO TO LAMEBO IT’S enough to make a grown man weep — a $200,000 Lamborghini is off to the wreckers after a test run ended in disaster.

The owner was left devastated after the luxury car, due to be delivered yesterday, was written off.

A mechanic was driving the car when a woman did a U-turn on Arden St, North Melbourne, and hit it.

Lorbek Luxury Cars ownerSrecko Lorbek said: “We are

very upset and the owner is devastated. Perfect cars like this one are hard to find and we went to a lot of trouble to find it. This one was a particularly special one.”

Mr Lorbek said his dealership would not resell the car.

The 2004 yellow Lamborghini Gallardo had one owner, had travelled 18,453km and was a six-speed manual coupe that retailed for $200,000. Before: the immaculate car on display. After: the car was hit during a test run.

KILLER: I’M SO SORRY

He said his parents hadtried to do well in life (by send-ing him to Australia to study).

“But there was the accidentthat happened that ruined mylife,” he said.

Puneet, who fled Australiaon a friend’s passport after ad-mitting guilt over the fatal ac-

cident, spent four years on therun in India before beingcaught on November 29.

He made a one-minute ap-pearance before subdivisionjudicial magistrate RupinverSingh in the Raijpura Magis-trates’ Court.

He was remanded to appearin Delhi on Friday, where it’spossible his extradition couldbe ordered immediately.

Puneet was drunk and driv-ing at almost 150km/h when hecrashed into Mr Hofstee andhis friend, Clancy Coker, onCity Rd, Southbank, at12.50am on October 1, 2008.

The learner driver, then 19,fled the scene. When arrestedhe recorded a blood alcoholreading of 0.165.

Puneet pleaded guilty inFebruary 2009 to culpabledriving and negligently caus-ing serious injury and wasbailed on strict conditions, in-cluding surrendering his In-dian passport.

But on June 12, before hecould be sentenced, he man-aged to flee to India usingfriend Sukhcharanjit Singh’spassport. Until he was caughtlate last month he was livingcomfortably, earning goodmoney working in a call centre,and was getting engaged.ellen.whinnett@news.com.auWITH TAWQEER HUSSAIN

HIT-RUN FUGITIVE BEGS FOR HELP, FEARING HE’LL DIE IN AUSSIE JAIL

ELLEN WHINNETTRAIJPURA, INDIA

FUGITIVE killer driver Pun-eet Puneet has pleaded for helpfrom the Indian Governmenton the eve of his likely extra-dition to Australia, saying hefeared he wouldn’t live to re-turn home.

Puneet, 24, made an emo-tional apology for the drunken,high-speed car crash in whichhe killed student Dean Hofsteein Melbourne in 2008.

“I feel so sorry. It was an ac-cident,” he said.

“I didn’t see him.”Surrounded by six police of-

ficers armed with rifles, Pun-eet, wearing a scarf over hisface and a beanie pulled low onhis head, said he didn’t knowwhat would happen to him.

Puneet asked the IndianGovernment for help, as heprepared for an extraditionhearing.

“I’m scared — I don’t wantto go to Australia,” he said.

“Accidents happen every-where, but they are treatingthis differently,” he said.

“I have no resources tofight. I am pleading again andagain to the Indian Govern-ment to come forward andhelp me,” he said.

“I don’t know if I’ll come tolive again in India or not.”

Hit-run victim Dean Hofstee.

Puneet Puneet yesterday.

Puneet Puneet arrives at the Judicial Court Complex in Raijpura yesterday under heavy police escort. Pictures: TONY GOUGH