$10,000 reparation for pedestrian crossing crash

A driver who hit a woman on a pedestrian crossing in Alexandra has been ordered to pay her $10,000 reparation for emotional harm, after the accident left her with severe facial scarring, multiple fractures, and permanent damage to a knee.

John Davis Stafford (51), of West Australia, was sentenced in the Alexandra District Court yesterday after pleading guilty to causing injury to Jennifer Ann Andrews on December 10 by dangerous driving.

Judge Stephen O'Driscoll said he would not impose a fine on Stafford, but believed it was appropriate to order $10,000 to be paid to Miss Andrews, who had received "significant and ongoing injuries".

Stafford was also disqualified from driving for 18 months.

A victim impact report written by Miss Andrews was read to the court by her partner, Jack Stuart, as she had recently been readmitted to hospital.

The 56-year-old had been Christmas shopping in Alexandra on December 10 and was hit by Stafford's car while she was walking across the pedestrian crossing.

She spent two weeks in hospital the first time, had operations on her knee and face and was in intense pain and distress, she said.

She could see the "shock and despair" on her visitors' faces when they saw her injuries, and would require plastic surgery on her face later.

Miss Andrews faced three to six months' rehabilitation to get "back on my feet" and the damage to her knee was permanent, which would affect her employment and quality of life.

The physical and financial effect of her injuries was tough enough, but the emotional effect was "devastating," she said.

Counsel Russell Checketts said Stafford expressed remorse and sadness "about the whole tragic event".

Stafford was raised in Alexandra and returned two days before the accident, as his father was dying.

"When he stepped off the plane in Queenstown he was told his dad had died and that devastated him."

He was staying with family in Alexandra and went shopping, to buy trousers to wear to his father's funeral.

He never saw Miss Andrews on the pedestrian crossing, Mr Checketts said.

Stafford had taken an "anti-anxiety pill" before he drove, even though he did not know what was in the medication.

"He's not walking away from this tragedy.

"It's coloured his life, and he can't think what he can do to redress things, " Mr Checketts said.

Judge O'Driscoll said Stafford had not been speeding.

The force of the impact was such that Miss Andrews' head went through the laminated glass of the windscreen.

She somersaulted through the air and landed behind the vehicle.

Two nurses at the scene found no pulse initially but when they rolled her over to start CPR, she regained a pulse.

Stafford had not slept for 48 hours before the crash and admitted he should not have been driving, Judge O'Driscoll said.