Now, the dead man’s mother has asked her former daughter-in-law if her son’s life meant nothing to her.
Shizelle Harland was behind the wheel with meth in her system when she drifted on to the wrong side of the road. She collided head-on with a van, killing her fiancé Joshua Ryder.
On Friday, Harland appeared in Christchurch District Court, where she was re-sentenced for the fatal 2021 collision. She was also sentenced on new charges.
Ryder’s mother thought about her son every day and said the realisation that he was dead hit her like a “punch in the tummy”.
She said home detention was a “small price to pay for a life”.
On July 7 in 2021, Ryder was driving home from the hospital after visiting a friend in Christchurch. Harland and another passenger were in the car.
She overtook a car at excessive speed, south of Dunsandel. Shortly afterwards, she drifted onto the wrong side of the road and collided head-on with a van.
Both Ryder and the other passenger weren’t wearing seatbelts.
Ryder died at the scene, while the other passenger, who suffered broken ribs, a broken wrist, a cracked pelvis, an air bubble in his lung and extensive bruising to his lower body, was taken to Christchurch Hospital.
Harland was also taken to the hospital and subsequent tests showed she had meth in her system. She was also diagnosed with a moderate brain injury.
She was charged with aggravated careless driving causing death and injury and was sentenced to home detention. But it wasn’t long before she breached.
According to the summary of facts, in May last year, Harland stole a caravan from a property.
In August, she stole an axe and kindling from a shed at a private dwelling, and then in November, police searched her home and found an air rifle, 61.29 grams of cannabis, a used meth pipe, a modified bong and a cannabis grinder.
Police also found 0.41g of cocaine and a stolen electric bike valued at $4399.
The Crown said a term of imprisonment was the only appropriate outcome, given Harland had continued to breach her previous sentence of home detention and re-offend.
Harland’s lawyer Matthew Bonniface said time spent in custody had been a much-needed “reality check” for his client, who was genuinely remorseful for her actions.
“The person I speak to over the phone now in prison is entirely different to the one I met a few months ago.”
He said the address at which Harland was serving her home detention sentence had set her up for failure, leading to her re-offending as she “fell victim” to pre-exposed struggles with drug addiction.
Bonniface said following the death of Ryder, she did well for a while but then gave up on herself.
He said she now understood compliance with her sentence was a necessity and she was willing to participate in rehabilitation.
Judge Brian Callaghan said while Harland seemed to be on a road to recovery, imposing another sentence of home detention would not be responsible.
“I accept that custody hasn’t been an easy task for you, but it’s not supposed to be,” he told her.
He sentenced Harland to 14 months’ imprisonment for the new charges and seven months’ imprisonment for the driving charges resulting in Ryder’s death, arriving at an end sentence of 21 months’ imprisonment.
- By Emily Moorhouse
