Jail warning for hit-and-run street racer
A hit-and-run street racer who badly injured his victim in a high speed crash on Russley Road has been warned he faces possible jail time.
William James Henry Le Grys, 20, of Upper Riccarton, had no lawyer for his scheduled sentencing in the Christchurch District Court today and no pre-sentence report had been prepared.
He sat in court and watched the rival driver – described by Judge Paul Kellar as being less responsible for the July 2 smash – being sentenced to home detention.
Then the judge told Le Grys that as the second driver, who had triggered the incident by tail-gating and who had driven off after running right over a passenger thrown from the other vehicle when it crashed, he faced a possible jail sentence.
“It is so serious that you need legal advice,” Judge Kellar warned him, and remanded him again for sentence on March 16.
The victim, who was the brother of the other driver, received a fractured pelvis, broken collarbone, and punctured lungs. He has since returned to work as a machine operator.
Le Grys has pleaded guilty to charges of inciting a street race in which a person was injured, and failing to stop and check for injuries after an accident. He remains on bail.
The other driver was 18-year-old Joseph Quinton Barrett, who is also a machine operator at the same workplace as his brother.
He had admitted charges of dangerous driving causing injury and driving with a passenger in breach of his restricted licence.
Defence counsel Clare Yardley said two of Barrett’s group of friends had been killed in car accidents and this had had a marked effect on the attitude of the group. His brother had been “amazingly forgiving” to Barrett and the other driver.
She said the police did not understand how Barrett’s brother had survived being run over completely by the other racing car.
Soon after this accident, Barrett was disqualified from driving on a separate drink-driving charge, but he has no other relevant convictions.
Mrs Yardley asked for a sentence of home detention to be imposed rather than the lesser community detention term. Home detention would allow the flexibility needed for Barrett to continue to work night shifts.
Judge Kellar said Le Grys had triggered the race by tail-gating Barrett’s car, which then reached 170km an hour, weaving through traffic along Russley Road about 8.30pm on July 2.
Barrett lost control at speed, crashed into a fence and then spun across the road before hitting a concrete culvert which sent the vehicle flying and spun it 360 degrees. The spin threw the brother out through the open window, where he was run over. He was not wearing a seatbelt.
Judge Kellar said young men and cars could be a “potent combination”. He told Barrett: “Your age is a factor because young men haven’t developed the consequential thinking parts of their brain.”
He imposed a two-month term of home detention at a Harewood address, with six months of post-detention conditions to follow, and a one-year disqualification from driving.
Category: Focus
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