Court hears of tragedy from two head-on crashes
It was not a happy day in Christchurch District Court 2, Judge Paul Kellar commented as he sentenced two men for separate fatal accidents caused by a moment’s inattention.
The head-on crashes on Canterbury highways caused the deaths of two women last year.
Judge Kellar said the sentencings – one straight after the other – in cases of careless driving causing death were among the most difficult that judges faced.
The losses of loved ones were devastating for the families involved but judges also had to consider the culpability of the drivers – momentary lapses with no other driving faults in both cases.
In both cases the drivers had taken responsibility and pleaded guilty.
The crash by Ronald James Haugh happened on the highway between Hanmer Springs and Culverden at 3.20pm on June 16, 2014, when Haugh’s car drifted across the centre-line on a left hand bend.
Defence counsel Tim Twomey told the court: “There was no excessive speed, no reckless driving. It was simply and purely one moment’s inattention and because of the width of the road there was no room for Mr Haugh to correct his initial error.”
The head-on crash killed Ngaire Caroline Khan, a 62-year-old Motueka woman, who was in a north-bound vehicle.
Haugh, 65, was travelling to Christchurch to continue his work on the city’s rebuild.
Judge Kellar said the accident had been an “entirely avoidable tragedy” where a moment’s inattention caused the car to cross the centre line. He noted Haugh had an otherwise impeccable driving record.
He ordered him to do 200 hours of community work, disqualified him from driving for a year, and ordered a $10,000 emotional harm reparation payment to the victim’s family.
The driver in the other crash, 22-year-old Junlei Zhou had been driving in New Zealand for four-and-a-half years, without any issues, before the accident near Rolleston about 5pm on November 4.
Zhou’s spectacles, which he depended on, slipped from his face and in the moments that followed he veered to avoid a stock truck, which he clipped, and then crashed head-on into a car driven by Therese Maureen Smith, aged 68, from Greymouth. Her car became airborne before crashing onto a grass embankment, and she died at the scene.
Defence counsel Clayton Williams said Zhou had received a cracked pelvis and his passenger received a neck injury. Zhou’s $6000 car, which was not insured, was written off and he had to pay $9310 for damage to another vehicle.
He has already met Mrs Smith’s family at a restorative justice conference.
Mr Williams said it was “an absolute tragedy for all those involved, and especially for the family of Mrs Smith”.
Judge Kellar ordered Zhou to do 180 hours of community work, disqualified him from driving for 12 months, and ordered a $10,000 emotional harm reparation payment to the victim’s family.
Category: Focus
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