Year’s driving ban added to sentence

Zane Allison (27) was back before the Dunedin District Court last week, where he was banned from driving for a year after causing a fatal crash near Hawksbury on State Highway 1 in October last year.

He was earlier sentenced to three months’ community detention and 350 hours’ community work after pleading guilty to careless driving causing the death of 62-year-old Lewis Gibson and careless driving causing the injury of a truck driver, but was recalled to court several days later because the disqualification had been overlooked.

A blood test showed Allison had cannabis and prescription medications in his system at the time of the crash. Judge Kevin Phillips ordered the unemployed defendant to pay the victims a "token" sum of $3000 and $1568 to cover blood-analysis fees.