Former jockey joins pledge

“I killed my mate, I killed my mate.”

The words Troy Morrissey told police as he held his mate Gordon Pashen in his arms almost two years ago are a haunting reminder of the dangers of drink driving.

Mr Morrissey, a former leading WA jockey who once rode seven winners in a single card at Albany’s Percy Spencer Racecourse, ran over and killed his friend hours after having Christmas drinks with him.

The former Albany resident had moved to the Pilbara to pursue a career in the resources sector and was drinking with his colleague and cricket teammate on December 11, 2011, when Mr Pashen decided to walk home from the Walkabout Hotel Motel in Port Hedland.

Mr Morrissey, 35, stayed at the hotel another one-and-half hours before getting in his Ford Falcon and attempting to drive home.

Speeding and “fishtailing” along Great Northern Highway, he ran down Mr Pashen, 36, who was walking 1.5m off the road.

When police arrived, Mr Morrissey was covered in Mr Pashen’s blood trying to revive him, saying, “I killed my mate, I killed my mate.”

He had a blood alcohol level of 0.17, nearly three-and-a-half times the legal limit.

He pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death and driving under the influence and was sentenced to 22 months jail but served 11 months.

Mr Morrissey has broken his silence to speak about his deep remorse in the hope others will learn from his mistake.

“I knew when I got in the car that I’d had too much, but I thought, as people do, ‘You’ll be right, there’ll be no one on the road’,” he said.

“It’s probably the worst thing anyone can ever go through — not really what you do to yourself but what you do to their family.

“That’s what plays a lot on your mind … of what you’ve done to that family.”

As the second anniversary of Mr Pashen’s death approaches, Mr Morrissey had a message for people tempted to drink and drive: “Don’t think it can’t happen to you.”

“Take it from someone that it’s happened to,” he said.

“It’s not something you want to go through. I don’t care how much alcohol you’ve had, you still know when you get in the car that you shouldn’t be getting in it.

“That’s pretty simple to me.”

Mr Morrissey said thoughts of guilt and shame would haunt him forever.

“There are 1001 things that have gone through my mind as to why it happened,” he said.

“Even though I was pissed, I don’t know why I didn’t see him.

“It’s a pretty awful thing that happened but I can’t take it back.

“(There’s) no doubt I would if I could.”