Hayden Richard Hurst, 30, pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of 48-year-old Royalburn Station head butcher Outrega (Tre) Anderson and was jailed for nearly four years when he was sentenced in the High Court at Invercargill in December 2024.
Hurst’s sentence expires in September 2028 but, following a hearing last month, the Parole Board deemed he posed no undue risk to the public.
He will be released later this month, panel convener Judge Louis Bidois determined.
The court at sentencing heard Hurst had consumed alcohol and MDMA at a work Christmas party in Queenstown on December 16, 2023.
Though his boss had arranged for accommodation for staff, the defendant decided to drive home to Wanaka in the early hours of the following morning.
His intoxication was immediately clear as he set off on the wrong side of the road in Queenstown’s CBD.
His erratic driving was such that two cars were forced to swerve off the road to avoid a collision.
Mr Anderson was driving east on the Gibbston Highway at 7.42am when Hurst again veered on to the wrong side of the road, crashing head-on into the victim.
Mr Anderson died at the scene.
Blood analysis showed Hurst had a blood-alcohol level of 131mg (more than twice the legal limit) and was at least double the high-risk limit for MDMA.
The Parole Board heard the Invercargill Prison inmate had been in the voluntary-segregation unit and had caused no issues during his stay, working on the jail’s ground with ‘‘excellent reports’’.
Hurst’s principal Corrections officer described him as ‘‘not a man with a criminal mentality’’.
Judge Bidois noted the prisoner had not met the threshold for an alcohol or drug programme but had been undertaking sessions with a counsellor and completed parenting courses while behind bars.
The board heard claims Hurst had previously driven while drunk, but they were ‘‘unsubstantiated’’ and denied by the inmate.
‘‘Mr Hurst advised the board that he was deeply remorseful for what he did and he understood the significance of his actions and the harm that he has caused to the victim and the victim’s family,’’ Judge Bidois said.
Among his parole conditions were:
- Not to possess alcohol or illicit drugs.
- Not to enter Otago.
- To live at an approved address.
- To attend any counselling as directed.
- Not to contact victims.
