"I don't know what to say. I'm just so sorry, so very, very sorry. It's a terrible, terrible thing."
Donaldson (57), of Dunedin, the group manager of regional services at the Otago Regional Council, was the driver of a jet-boat which struck a shingle bar on the Matukituki River east of Wanaka on December 26, 2008, and flipped.
British doctor Paul Woods (29) was killed and two other passengers, including Dr Woods' partner, were injured. A third passenger was uninjured.
Three of the group, including Dr Woods, were colleagues and friends of Donaldson's wife.
In the Invercargill District Court, sitting this week in Dunedin due to refurbishment in Invercargill, Donaldson reversed an earlier plea of not guilty and admitted a Maritime Transport Act charge of operating a vessel in a manner causing unnecessary danger or risk.
The plea change came about halfway through the trial, after Donaldson's interview with the accident investigator the day after the accident was heard, and before the defence called its witnesses.
Judge Jane Farish, of Christchurch, explained to the trial jury that mounting a defence would effectively have meant Donaldson would have had to resile from admissions of liability he had made in the interview.
She yesterday convicted Donaldson, fined him $2500 and ordered him to pay reparations to the Woods family of $25,000.
After the sentencing, Donaldson said all he could say was how sorry he was.
Throughout the trial, he was visibly upset as evidence was read out, and became particularly grieved at his sentencing when victim impact statements from Dr Woods' family in the United Kingdom were read out.
"Our world was ripped apart and our hearts truly broken," Dr Woods' parents, two brothers and grandmother said in their statement.
They spoke of a special, brilliant and caring young man, who was the "rock" of not only his immediate family, but his extended family.
He had planned to return to the UK, marry his partner and start a family as soon possible.
Dr Woods' parents said each new day was still difficult and the sadness they felt was overwhelming.
His mother missed his daily texts and regular calls.
Both parents had become ill in the aftermath of their son's death, the pain for them would never cease, they said.
"The image of our beautiful boy lying in that cold water will be in our hearts and minds forever."
Donaldson's lawyer, Garth Gallaway, of Christchurch, told the court Donaldson and his family and friends had also taken Dr Wood's death very hard.
They had written to the Woods family and still kept a picture of Dr Woods in their kitchen.
He said Donaldson, with more than 40 years' experience driving jet-boats, was well respected in the jet-boat community, had made a significant contribution to many people's lives through his volunteer boat safety work and before the accident was regarded as a particularly safe and conscientious driver.
At the time of the crash, he was the president of Jet Boat New Zealand, a harbourmaster with the ORC, a Queenstown Lakes District Council waterways enforcement officer and was involved in running jet-boat marathons and circuit river races.
Sentencing him, Judge Farish said she had to recognise that he was human, and all humans were fallible and made mistakes.
She said she could understand how images from the accident could have haunted Donaldson, and how would think he could not have done such a thing, but in the end he had been "his own expert".
His response to the accident investigator - that he had made the wrong decision in the circumstances to make the sharp turn that led to the boat rolling - was the correct one.
It had been "a courageous act" for him to accept liability in the end, she said.
She noted he had given up jet-boating after the accident and told him she understood he was distraught, but that it would be a "great shame" for his experience to go to waste.
She hoped MNZ would see a way for him to continue in his volunteer boat safety role. It was one way of turning something very bad into something positive, maybe as a memorial to Dr Woods, she said.
Donaldson remains a volunteer safe boating adviser for Maritime NZ.
Jet Boat New Zealand president Clive Workman said Jet Boat New Zealand supported Judge Farish's words at sentencing regarding Donaldson, and that it would be a shame for him to stop being involved in jet-boating because he had done so much for the boating community and had so much to offer.
• Donaldson's conviction highlights that no matter how experienced a jet-boat driver might be, not following accepted safe practice can have devastating consequences, says Maritime New Zealand.
There were safety lessons there for all recreational jet-boat drivers, MNZ investigations manager Steve van der Splinter said.
