Man guilty; fatigue likely cause of crash

Emergency services at the scene following the crash. Photo by Tracey Roxburgh
Emergency services at the scene following the crash. Photo by Tracey Roxburgh
A former Queenstown man has been found responsible for a crash near the resort that killed a Cromwell woman.

Isaac David Madsen (19), who now lives in Auckland, held his head in his hands and wept on Friday  as Judge Mark Callaghan found him guilty of careless driving causing the death of Jennifer Claire Scott (76) on July 31 last year.

Judge Callaghan’s decision followed two days of evidence in the Queenstown District Court on Tuesday and Wednesday.

In his summing up, Judge Callaghan said he accepted the police case that distraction or fatigue had caused Madsen to cross the centreline into the opposite lane and collide head-on with Mrs Scott’s car.

The defendant’s "momentary inattention" was possibly the result of fatigue after a day in which he went snowboarding at Cardrona after  hitchhiking up the ski area’s access road.

This action was below the standard of a reasonable and prudent driver on a flat,  straight road.

Mrs Scott died a few minutes after the crash, while Madsen suffered serious injuries.

The collision occurred on State Highway 6 on the eastern approach to the resort between Lakes Hayes and Frankton — a road known locally as the Ladies Mile.Judge Callaghan said the evidence of one of three eyewitnesses to the crash, Steve Murch, of Arrowtown, had been "compelling".

Mr Murch, who saw the defendant’s car cross the centreline moments before the crash, did not see its brake lamps light up or see an abrupt turn.

The defence’s case was that Madsen’s actions could have been the result of trying to avoid Mrs Scott after she veered out of her lane and then corrected.

Although aspects of a report by police serious crash unit investigator Senior Constable Alastair Crosland had been criticised by two peer reviewers, the report was correct on "matters of substance" and confirmed the accounts of eye-witnesses.

The defence’s crash expert, Tim Stevenson, had used a crash simulation program to support two alternative scenarios.

One of those involved the two drivers "snaking" or inadvertently steering towards each other in an attempt to avoid a collision.

During cross-examination, Dr Stevenson had conceded there was no evidence of sudden action by Mrs Scott, or of hard braking by either driver.

There was "no evidential foundation" for Dr Stevenson’s alternative scenarios, Judge Callaghan said.

He convicted Madsen and remanded him on bail until December 20 for sentencing.

He ordered a pre-sentence report and made a referral for the defendant to enter a restorative justice process.

The sentence would not be custodial, he said.

Madsen did not give evidence during the trial.

 

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