Partner Mellisa Ngauamo, sisters Latisha Oneroa and Leanna Blade, and mother Robyn Blade after the sentencing of the driver who caused Colin Blade's death. PHOTO / PETER DE GRAAF
Partner Mellisa Ngauamo, sisters Latisha Oneroa and Leanna Blade, and mother Robyn Blade after the sentencing of the driver who caused Colin Blade's death. PHOTO / PETER DE GRAAF
A Northland driver who caused the deaths of two young men while under the influence of alcohol has been sentenced to 10 months' home detention.
The sentence is a ''massive let down'' for the family of one of the victims, who say it will encourage others to drink and drive because they won't fear the consequences.
Glen Stewart McGee, a house painter from Okaihau, was sentenced in the Kaikohe District Court yesterday on two charges of careless driving causing death while under the influence of alcohol.
The court heard McGee drank six stubbies at a Bulman Rd address, north of Ohaeawai, on the evening of May 12 last year before deciding to drive home about 10pm.
When he came to State Highway 1 he stopped, saw the lights of an oncoming vehicle, judged it was safe to go on, and turned right.
His vehicle collided with another ute travelling south on SH1 with a five-strong hunting party, two of whom were thrown out.
One, 28-year-old Colin Blade of Auckland, died at the scene, and the other, his cousin Zion Harris-Davis, 23, of Kaeo, died after being flown to Auckland Hospital.
Flowers at the scene of a crash that claimed the lives of two young men on State Highway 1 last May. PHOTO / PETER DE GRAAF
McGee recorded an alcohol level of 390mcg per litre of breath, above the 250mcg legal limit, but just below the 400mcg of a criminal drink-driving offence.
He pleaded guilty on February 15 after a sentence indication.
The men's relatives read out harrowing victim impact statements.
Robyn Blade said her only son had returned from Australia three months earlier to help her after a series of operations. Burying a child was the hardest thing any parent could go through, she said.
Latisha Oneroa, Mr Blade's sister, described him as full of life, bursting with charisma and a support to anyone who needed him.
Not only had she lost her only brother, best friend and mentor, but her two sons had also lost the Uncle Colcol who taught them everything she couldn't and showed them how to hunt and fish.
Since his death her life had become a shambles, she said. She had lost her motivation, her job and her house, and even the simplest things seemed unbearably hard.
Mr Blade had a partner and whangai son. Mr Harris-Davis, who was described as a loving father, had a partner and three children, the youngest of whom was an infant when he died.
Prosecutor Duncan Coleman called for a jail term of 19 months, saying McGee had three previous drink-driving convictions and knew he shouldn't have been behind the wheel. It was clear alcohol clouded his judgment when he pulled out on to SH1, he said.
Defence lawyer Doug Blaikie said the crash report pointed to a number of contributing factors, including a third vehicle that may have struck one of the men as he lay on the road and the fact the two deceased weren't wearing seatbelts.
Judge Keith de Ridder, however, said McGee's actions were the ''prime and operative'' cause of the men's deaths.
Had his breath-alcohol reading been just a little higher — 400mcg instead of 390 — he would have been facing ''far more serious charges with far more serious penalties''.
The judge started with a sentence of 20 months' jail, uplifting it by three months for McGee's previous convictions then reducing it for his guilty plea, resulting in a jail term of 19 months. McGee was not entitled to the full discount for pleading guilty because his plea came about nine months after the crash.
Judge de Ridder said, however, the law required him to impose the least restrictive sentence possible that still provided denunciation and deterrence, so converted the sentence to a term of 10 months' home detention.
McGee was also disqualified from driving for two years.
Afterwards Mrs Blade said the sentence sent a message that ''you can drink and drive, kill two people, and get home detention''.
Ms Oneroa said she felt ''massively let down'' by the justice system. She had seen offenders get jail terms for crimes that didn't involve taking a life whereas McGee had received ''a slap on the wrist''.
* The maximum sentence for drink-driving causing death, when the driver's breath-alcohol reading is over 400mcg, is ten years' jail. For careless driving causing death the maximum is three years.
