Jail for drink-driver’s Redcliffs crash
Four-time drink-driver Sarah Jane Arrow, who crashed into walkers near Redcliffs sending two crashing onto rocks below the roadway, has been jailed for two years six months.
The Christchurch District Court was told of the devastation she caused, but it was also told she apologised for her offending and had attempted suicide in the months before the crash.
In imposing the jail term, Judge Stephen O’Driscoll said Arrow was assessed as being a high risk of reoffending and causing harm to others.
Arrow, 45, of Sumner, injured two people in the March 25 crash. She had pleaded guilty in May to charges of causing injury to the main victim when she was driving with 1009mcg of alcohol to a litre of breath, and breaching the terms of a zero-alcohol licence.
Defence counsel Allister Davis said Arrow’s life had spiralled after the death of her mother. Arrow had tried to take her own life early this year, and had then returned to her home in Sumner one day to find that her ex-husband had taken her children and cleared out all the furniture.
She was told she would never see her children again, Mr Davis said. “She hit the bottle.”
She had been significantly intoxicated at 2pm, when she rounded a corner, had the sun in her eyes, and had the crash.
Mr Davis said she had done treatment courses. She was a responsible member of society when she was not “on the juice”, he said.
The case had caused feelings to run high, in the community and in the media, which had led to him receiving 48 text messages on one night from an unknown person who abused him for representing Arrow at court.
He said she accepted responsibility and apologised to the victim and his girlfriend, because she realised she had caused “considerable damage to their lives”. She had been trying since the accident to get herself back on the straight and narrow.
A statement from the victim, Ben Appleton, was read in court telling of still being in constant physical pain because of the multiple traumas that occurred. His injuries included a fractured skull, spinal fracture, broken ribs, punctured lung, broken shoulder, two broken legs, and scars from landing on the rocks.
The accident caused by Arrow had happened only nine days after he had begun his career after gaining his university degree.
He said: “She has been there before and this time she has nearly killed someone.”
Police prosecutor Aja Trinder said a starting point of 30-months’ imprisonment was warranted, before the sentence was adjusted for other factors. A term of imprisonment was the only appropriate outcome.
Police said that members of the public had called police about her driving, because she was reported to be swerving, when she was on Main Road, Redcliffs.
She failed to take a corner and struck a roadside barrier, which threw two pedestrians off a 2m bank and onto the rocks below.
Her breath test at the scene indicated a level of 1009mcg of alcohol to a litre of breath. The legal limit is 250mcg.
One pedestrian received minor bruises and scratches while the other suffered extensive injuries requiring on-going treatment and surgery.
Arrow told police she had drunk two glasses of wine before driving and she had the sun in her eyes at the time of the crash.
Judge Stephen O’Driscoll said he had refused the media permission to photograph Arrow in court.
He said the victim had received significant injuries that were likely to have long-lasting effects.
The breath-alcohol level was high, and Arrow had driven when she was subject to a zero-alcohol licence. The accident had caused significant injuries, and she had three previous convictions for drink-driving in 1997, in 2011, and in 2013 when the level was 1352mcg.
Arrow was ordered to pay $2500 emotional harm reparations to the main victim, and she was disqualified from driving indefinitely.
Category: Focus
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