(DIR) Home
Distracted driver killed lawyer day before his birthday
(HTM) Source
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A woman who caused the death of a Blenheim barrister while he was
riding his motorbike in Central Otago veered into the opposite lane
while distracted, a court has heard.
Brazilian national Evellyn Hitori Maeda Magahlaes was driving to
Queenstown on November 19 when her car struck Philip Watson's Triumph
motorcycle on State Highway 8 between Lindis Pass and Tarras.
It was the day before his 65th birthday.
Maeda Magahlaes, 29, admitted a charge of careless driving causing
death in February.
At her sentencing in the Queenstown District Court today, several
members of Mr Watson's family read emotional victim impact statements,
although their contents were suppressed by Judge David Ruth.
Police say the defendant left Auckland two days before the accident to
pick up her brother from Queenstown Airport, and had spent the night
in Cheviot, North Canterbury.
About 8.45am, as she looked at a navigation app on her dash-mounted
phone, she veered into the opposite lane and collided head-on with Mr
Watson.
He died at the scene.
Prosecuting Sergeant Ian Collin said the defendant told police in her
first interview she slept for only four hours the night before the
crash.
By the time of the accident, she had already been driving for five
and-a-half hours.
Her decision to drive while sleep-deprived was a causative factor in
the crash, Sgt Collin said.
He sought a sentence of imprisonment, along with a driving
disqualification and reparation.
Defence counsel Bryony Shackell said police had focused on how much
sleep the defendant had had, but her initial comments to police had
been made under the influence of powerful drugs she had been given for
her own trauma.
A subsequent check of messages to family members showed she had slept
for six and-a-half hours the night before the crash, and nine and-a-
half hours the night before that.
There was no evidence of the defendant's driving being ''anything but
exemplary'' before the accident, Ms Shackell said.
She asked for a community work sentence, saying the defendant was a
''kind, caring and generous'' person, with a nursing qualification,
and no previous convictions in New Zealand or elsewhere.
Maeda Magahlaes was not in a position to offer reparation, because her
visa status since the accident meant she had not been able to work.
She had no savings and was relying on financial support from family
and friends.
Judge Ruth told the victim's family that even a sentence of life
imprisonment ''would not bring Phil back''.
He asked them to consider what Mr Watson would have done if he had
been representing the defendant.
''He would have done everything in his power to put his case forward —
that was the kind of man and lawyer he was.''
The defendant had not been speeding, influenced by alcohol or drugs,
or flouting any law, but had allowed her car to drift across the road
while she was distracted.
Hands-free devices were no guarantee of avoiding distraction, and
there would be few drivers who could claim they had not been similarly
distracted.
''This should be a cautionary tale for all of us.''
He told the defendant it was ''more luck than good management that
none of us face what you face''.
He imposed a sentence of 150 hours' community work, and disqualified
her from driving for 12 months.
______________________________________________________________________
Served by Flask-Gopher/2.2.1