Defence says fatal crash driver wasn’t drunk
The jury deciding on the verdicts in a Darfield man’s fatal crash trial was told by his defence counsel that it could not be sure how much he had been drinking at a party beforehand.
“You can be sure he wasn’t drunk,” Richard Maze told the jury in his closing address on day four of the Christchurch District Court trial of Cody Marcus John Pierce, now 23, who denies three charges.
The Crown has called evidence from some of those attending the party to tell the court about seeing Pierce drinking, and describing him slurring his words or staggering.
“The recollections of the witnesses given in evidence are honest, truthful…but mistaken,” said Mr Maze. “Memory plays tricks on honest people.”
He said Pierce had had four drinks at the party, over the space of about five hours. He rejected Crown claims of signs of Pierce’s intoxication at the party. When a dispute occurred, he had proved to be neither aggressive nor argumentative.
Mr Maze said the Crown been unfair in its opening address in saying that Pierce had “demanded” to be driven away from the accident scene. The evidence that emerged was that he was panicking and pleading to be taken away.
“This was a scared 21-year-old,” he said. “He had been driving while disqualified and something had gone horribly wrong. He wanted his parents.”
Crown prosecutor Barnaby Hawes said it was evident that Pierce had a significant amount to drink at the party in the hours before the fatal crash, and he had continued drinking after he left the house.
He had been showing definite signs of intoxication before driving away from the house. His speech was affected, and his co-ordination was impaired. In a text to his girlfriend, about two hours before the crash, he had said he was drunk.
The Crown said he fled the scene of the crash, and within 25min he had turned his mind to leaving the country, and he had boarded a flight to Australia next day.
Pierce denies alternative charges of causing his passenger Sean Christopher Frost’s death by driving when he was under the influence of drink to such an extent that he was incapable of having proper control, and that caused the death by careless driving while under the influence of drink.
He also denies a charge that accuses him of failing to render “all practicable assistance” to Mr Frost at the crash scene.
The Crown prosecutor urged the jury to find Pierce guilty of the first charge, and the third.
Judge Alistair Garland will sum up this morning, before the jury retires to consider its verdicts.
Category: Focus
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