Long recovery ahead for Rolleston crash victim
Up to a year of rehabilitation lies ahead of the passenger seriously injured when an overseas driver drove a rental car through a stop sign at Rolleston and was struck by a car towing a horse float last week.
The victims and families of those injured are said to bear no grudges against the Singapore Airline pilot, Benjamin Yonghao Wu, 32, who has been ordered to pay a total of $20,000 emotional harm reparations.
At Wu’s Christchurch District Court sentencing today, Judge Stephen O’Driscoll disqualified him from driving from 18 months.
Wu had pleaded guilty last week to two charges of reckless driving causing injury over the crash at the corner of Weedons Ross Road and Maddisons Road on October 1. He pleaded guilty as soon as he was brought to court, but the sentencing was delayed to check whether the victims were in a life-threatening situation.
Judge O’Driscoll said Wu had not seen the stop sign on Maddisons Road until very late. Wu said it had been in a blind spot caused by a shelter belt, and when he saw it he had made the quick decision to slow because the rapid stop would have been uncomfortable for his passengers. He had then gone through the stop sign at about 40 to 50km an hour.
The judge said he had not kept up the high degree of vigilance required of drivers.
The two back-seat passengers who were not wearing seatbelts were badly injured when the car and horse-float struck the left side of the rental car.
The passenger next to the door, Weng Wai Chew, suffered significant injuries and Judge O’Driscoll said he now faced between six and 12 months of rehabilitation. His prospects for recovery were unknown.
The other victim, Vanessa Leonara Savio Coelho, also received significant physical injuries and was uncertain about her long term future employment.
Defence counsel Kerry Cook said Wu had met the woman, and the wife of Mr Chew to apologise, and the victims and families bore him no grudge.
Wu was not a wealthy man. He had no assets and lived at home with his parents. He had been sent $15,000 to offer as emotional harm reparations but he knew the money not going to fix the harm he had done.
Judge O’Driscoll said it would have been prudent for Wu, as the driver, to have ensured that all the passengers were wearing seatbelts, but Mr Cook pointed out that the traffic regulations made it the responsibility of passengers aged 15 and over to ensure they were wearing seatbelts.
Mr Cook said the crash had been a tragic accident with unintended consequences. He said the injuries to the two not wearing seatbelts had been “horrendous” but others who were wearing seatbelts had been able to walk away from the accident.
Category: Focus
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