Teenager lambasted for 'appalling behaviour'

An Oruru teenager who abandoned his grievously injured passenger after crashing his car, then told police he had been robbed of the vehicle at gunpoint, was severely criticised by Judge Greg Davis in the Kaitaia District Court. And his lawyer didn't fare much better.

Counsel Michael Powell rose to his feet while Judge Davis was sentencing Dion Sean Hickey to claim that the court did not know what his client had done immediately following the crash, Judge Davis replying "I'm on the soapbox, Mr Powell, and you're not going to get me off it."

When Mr Powell persisted, Judge Davis waved the summary of facts, and told him that he could have his turn outside (the court) later; when he tried a third time Judge Davis told him to "appeal it". He also ordered Mr Powell to sit down after each interjection.

Judge Davis told Hickey that his behaviour had been appalling.

"You chose to drink, you chose to drive and you chose to run off and report a fictitious robbery," he said.

"The Armed Offenders' Squad could have been called out. People could have been arrested. You didn't saying anything to get help for your passenger. You just tried to cover up your drinking and driving."

He gave no weight to the references produced on the defendant's behalf, saying the summary of facts offered a greater indication of the teenager's character than the references would.

Hickey admitted charges of driving with excess alcohol, careless/inconsiderate driving causing injury and making a false statement that an offence had been committed. Convicted on all, he was sentenced to 150 hours' community work, disqualified from holding or obtaining a driver's licence for eight months, and ordered to pay $1500 in emotional harm reparation to his passenger at the rate of $100 per week.

According to the summary of facts, Hickey lost control of his car on Honeymoon Valley Road late on the night of November 9 last year, after leaving a stag party. The vehicle crashed into a farm fence and rolled several times before hitting another fence 70 metres into the paddock and coming to a halt on its wheels.

Hickey ran to a house and called the police, claiming that three people unknown to him had robbed him of his car at gunpoint. Armed local police responded, the crash only being reported when another person found the passenger in the vehicle (after reportedly seeing a headlight in the paddock). The passenger said Hickey had been driving and that there had been no robbery.

Hickey's response to that was, "I'll man up. I was the driver. There wasn't any robbery. Is (the passenger) alright?"

He subsequently recorded 678 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath. The legal teenage limit is zero.

The passenger, who was flown to Whangarei Hospital by rescue helicopter, suffered injuries including two fractured vertebrae and internal bruising. Outside the court last week she told the Northland Age that she had had to be cut out of the car, and had been told that when paramedics arrived her condition was assessed as Status 1 (near death).

She added that she wished to publicly express her gratitude to Isaiah Inch, who reported the accident, and that Hickey had not made contact with her in any way since the crash.

Hickey, meanwhile, told police he had panicked and had concocted the robbery story because he owed $8000 on the vehicle and would not be able to claim insurance because he had been drinking.

Mr Powell had told the court that his client was a first offender, a young man of good character who had made one serious mistake. He offered emotional harm reparation of $500 to his passenger.

His vehicle had been written off, he added, equating to a loss "more or less" of $8000.