A man has been sentenced to 125 hours community work following the injuring of seven others when a van he was driving crashed over a bank after he fell asleep at the wheel between Napier and Taupo.
Appearing in Napier District Court yesterday, 34-year-old Sandeep Kumar, was also disqualified from driving for a year, having been convicted on seven charges of careless driving causing injury in the crash which happened on State Highway 5 between Tarawea and Te Haroto on the morning of January 2, 2014.
At a trial in June he had pleaded not guilty to the charges effectively involving one offence but resulting in injury to the passengers in the southbound van. The van strayed to the left, mounted a kerb, hit a large road sign and deflected across three lanes on a downhill stretch before plunging over the bank. It landed crushed, but on its wheels on a bluff above a stream, about 10m below the road. Among the injured were his brother, who was flown to Hawke's Bay Hospital in a critical condition. Kumar's sister-in-law and two nieces were seriously injured.
Judge Geoff Rea, who had found Kumar guilty in a reserved decision a fortnight ago said it was a "complete miracle" no one had died, but the consequences of Kumar not having adequate sleep before driving were still "catastrophic".
Kumar and his brother had travelled to Auckland in the van on the afternoon and evening of New Year's Day to collect his brother's family when they arrived on a flight from Melbourne.
