Aimex boss to stay in prison after High Court dismisses appeal against sentence

Steven Sullivan, former managing director of marine engineering company Aimex, was sentenced in July to 20 months in prison on a charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice

The former head of Nelson marine engineering firm Aimex is to stay in prison after the High Court dismissed an appeal against his sentence.

Steven Sullivan was sentenced in July to 20 months in prison on a charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice. Despite lodging an appeal that he should have instead been sentenced to home detention, Justice Christine Grice has ruled that the sentence was “not manifestly excessive”.

He and his brother William (Bill) Sullivan, the firm’s former health and safety manager, were each jailed for their part in covering up details of a workplace incident.

William Sullivan deliberately misled a WorkSafe investigation into an incident involving an Aimex worker that happened days before a young worker was seriously injured while carrying out a similar task.

Aimex was sentenced in July 2021 for the subsequent workplace accident and was fined $250,000 and ordered to pay $65,000 in reparation and $1434 in costs after admitting a charge under the Health and Safety at Work Act.

It was later revealed that Steven Sullivan, the firm’s former managing director, founding member and one-third shareholder, was aware of the creation and destruction of a damning incident report related to the first workplace incident. He was ultimately found guilty of “deliberately and successfully misleading WorkSafe investigators and the court that sentenced Aimex”, which resulted in an undoubtedly smaller penalty, the court found at this year’s sentencing.

The former head of Aimex in Nelson has failed on appeal to have his prison sentence substituted with home detention. Photo / Tracy Neal

William Sullivan was sentenced to nine months in prison for making a false statement, in relation to the first incident, but he succeeded on appeal to have the sentence substituted with one of six months’ home detention.

NZME reported yesterday that the High Court felt the prison sentence was “manifestly excessive” and that home detention was appropriate.

Because of the lack of a suitable address, an order was made for the district court to set aside the sentence and impose another that it considered appropriate after receiving information as to the possibility of home detention.

The Nelson District Court confirmed the matter was dealt with in chambers this morning and by consent of all parties, William Sullivan has been resentenced to six months of home detention, starting today.

Justice Grice said Steven Sullivan had appealed his sentence on the basis it was “manifestly excessive”, that the judge had provided inadequate reductions to the starting point, and that the judge had erred in imposing a sentence of imprisonment rather than home detention.

The Crown opposed the appeal and said that imprisonment was the “only appropriate response to the offending”.

Justice Grice said Steven Sullivan initially sought leave to adduce fresh evidence on appeal from the other two directors of Aimex, related to his position as managing director, but due to a change in his employment circumstances, that was no longer sought.

Steven Sullivan’s lawyer said it was unlikely his client would continue as a shareholder in the business “due to the reaction of customers and the company” to the events that gave rise to the offending.

Leave was granted for the filing of an affidavit by his wife, who referred to the effects on the family and her husband from the imprisonment, the loss of employment and his interest in the company as well as his fall from grace in the eyes of the community.

In sentencing, Judge David Ruth granted Steven Sullivan a 5 per cent discount for his previous good character and a 25 per cent discount for his guilty plea.

Justice Grice accepted the discount given for his personal circumstances was modest but it had to be seen in the context of the “generous guilty plea” the judge allowed.

“This did not result in a sentence that was manifestly excessive.”

Justice Grice said that although it was Steven Sullivan’s first offence the various lies were “parts of a global and ongoing attempt” to cover up the first incident.

“The nature of the lies and deception, which continued over a substantial period of time - many months - weighs against this being the sort of singular event that warrants lenient recognition in terms of a good character discount,” she said.

Justice Grice said Steven Sullivan had “many opportunities to tell the truth” about the incident once he learned of it but continued with the lie to the end, to the extent he gave police false information after they had become aware of the deception and started an investigation.

She concluded the starting point for sentencing adopted by the judge was low in the circumstances, the discounts were adequate and resulted in a sentence that was not manifestly excessive.

“The judge did not err in imposing a sentence of imprisonment rather than home detention.

“I am satisfied the short sentence of imprisonment imposed in this case was the least restrictive outcome available in the circumstances,” Justice Grice said in dismissing the appeal.

Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She was previously RNZ’s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered general news, including court and local government for the Nelson Mail.