Disqualification imposed for three careless driving deaths

Dutch visitor Johannes Jacobus Appelman has been disqualified from driving for 15 months  for the rental car crash at Rakaia that killed three people and injured another.

The 52-year-old was sentenced in the Christchurch District Court this afternoon, four weeks after admitting the charges of careless driving causing three deaths and one injury.

Judge David Saunders ordered him to pay emotional harm reparations of $25,000 to one of the families involved and an undisclosed but previously agreed sum to the other.

Ella Summerfield, 12, and her mother Sally Vanessa Summerfield, were killed in the crash near Rakaia on May 31, along with Sally’s 12-year-old school friend Abi Hone.

Since the Queen’s Birthday weekend crash, it has been revealed that Appelman had crashed a different rental car in a non-injury accident in Christchurch earlier on the same day as the fatal accident. The court he had been attending to a GPS at the time.

He also pleaded guilty today to a charge of careless driving related to that accident.

Family members read victim impact statements and then Judge Saunders asked those in court to stand for a moment’s silence as a mark of respect for the families’ losses.

Shane Summerfield, who was the driver of the car that Appelman hit when he ran a stop sign, said half his family and their friend Abi Hone had been killed on May 31.

Speaking haltingly and sometimes wiping away tears, he said his wife Sally had been the fabric of their family, and “the most kind, caring, loving person you could ever meet”. She had been “the agony aunt of Sumner,” and his soulmate.

His daughter Ella had been full of fun and joy, and because of this, love had radiated back towards her. Abi Hone had often been part of the squeals of delight at their home, and he had seen her as another daughter.

“The pain is unbearable. I feel like a lost soul,” he said, describing himself as a shadow of a man. Words could never express how much devastation Appelman had caused.

Sam Summerfield, 16, the family’s son, said his mother always knew what to say and do, and could fix any problem. Ella had been beautiful, fun-loving, smiling, and very special – she would make her friends feel special. She had been hard working and smart at school. He said his heart had been broken by the crash, but he and his father had to carry on.

Other family members also read statements, including one on behalf of family members living in Britain. The sister of Shane Summerfield, Toni, said that a family of hopes and dreams had now become “a family of dread” with the reminders of how much they had lost in a totally avoidable car crash.

Defence counsel Phil Shamy said Appelman offered his unreserved apology to the two families. “There is nothing he can say, or do, or offer, that can make up for the harm he has done.” He was deserving of the anger and sadness they felt.

He said that in 30 years of practising in the courts he had never seen such bravery in expressing emotions, as he had seen from the members of the Summerfield family.

He said Appelman had not been a tourist but had been in New Zealand on business, arriving during the night from Australia. He had the first accident at Christchurch and then slept before driving the next day. He could not explain why he had not seen the stop sign where the accident happened.

“He will never forget, not will he ever forgive himself for what he has done,” said Mr Shamy. He said Appelman had been vilified in the media as “the Dutch tourist who had killed people”.

He said it was a case of classic carelessness, which had had “outrageous consequences”.

Judge Saunders acknowledged the fortitude of the family members in reading their statements in court. He said the incident had been a tragedy that the city – already used to tragedy – would remember for a long time.

Another driver following Appelman had said there was nothing untoward about his driving until the crash at the intersection.

He said imprisonment was rarely imposed in cases of this type, where there were no aggravating features. “It is my view that there would be little gained by sending you to prison for two months, or thereabouts, or placing you on home detention in Christchurch.”

There was no monetary value that could be placed on the families’ losses, said the judge.

Appelman will have to get a New Zealand driver’s licence if he ever returns to New Zealand and wishes to drive.

Category: News