On February 25, about 12.30am, Shirley Roberts (57) was driving back from a day in Invercargill with her mother Dorothy Roberts on Limehills Browns Rd.
They were five minutes away from home when a car driven by Philippines national Marvin John Encarnacion Melloria (40) suddenly crossed the centre line of the road and collided head on with their vehicle.
Ms Roberts sustained several injuries and her mother, aged 74, died when she was transported to the hospital.
Melloria was sentenced yesterday in the Invercargill District Court by Judge Catriona Doyle to 10 months and two weeks’ home detention after pleading guilty to a charge of drink-driving causing injury and another of drink-driving causing death.
On the day of incident, Melloria’s partner was sober and driving them back to their home, but after a heated argument between them, she stopped the car and phoned a relative to pick him up.
Suddenly, Melloria got into the driver’s seat and drove off, leaving his partner on the side of the road and then causing the crash which killed Dorothy Roberts.
Tests showed he had 116mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood, more than two times the 50mg legal limit.
Five family members read victim impact statements to the court describing how Melloria’s actions took the life of "a mother, a grandma of 10 and a great-grandma who was loved so much".
Shirley Roberts spoke about her feelings after the crash, saying the the pain was excruciating.
"I couldn’t breathe and I thought this is it — I’m going to die ...
"After some time I managed to turn my head and look at her. I could see she was breathing, but she was unresponsive. That was the last time I saw my mum."
She sustained serious injuries which left her in hospital for seven and a-half weeks.
Because of that, she could not attend her mother’s funeral.
"I didn’t get to be at Mum’s funeral because I was in hospital struggling for my life.
"I did not get to say goodbye to Mum. I missed saying goodbye because it was taken from me by your actions which caused my injuries."
A minute of silence was observed in court after the family read their emotional victim impact statements.
Crown prosecutor Mike Brownlie asked for a sentence of imprisonment because of the high level of alcohol, Melloria’s driving manner and the unfortunate outcome.
Defence counsel Jono Ross asked for home detention as Melloria had promptly entered a guilty plea, took responsibility for his offence and had a good character, never previously having been before a court in New Zealand or the Philippines.
He said his client made a terrible decision and tried to engage in restorative justice.
While the family refused, Melloria read an apology letter to them in court, saying he was ashamed and sorry for his actions and asked for forgiveness.
"I will be forever in debt with your family," he said.
Justice Doyle sentenced him to 10 months and two weeks’ home detention, disqualified him from driving for two years and ordered him to pay $10,000 in emotional harm to the family.
She also imposed 12 months of post-release conditions, which included attending any psychological and alcohol treatment as imposed by Corrections if he was not deported by Immigration New Zealand.
