Businessman crashes motorbike on joyride

Phillip John Hensman has denied causing injury to Sharon Ann Gower by careless driving while under the influence of alcohol. Photo / File

A prominent Queenstown businessman who crashed a Harley-Davidson motorcycle while on a joyride, injuring himself and a friend, is defending a charge of aggravated careless driving.

Phillip John Hensman, 64, has denied causing injury to Sharon Ann Gower by careless driving while under the influence of alcohol near the resort on December 19, 2013. A judge-alone trial began before Judge Tony Couch in Queenstown District Court yesterday, and is expected to conclude today.

An accountant and developer, Mr Hensman is also a director of Skyline Enterprises, with a shareholding in the company worth tens of millions.

The court heard how Hensman had taken Ms Couch for a joyride from a party at the Lake Hayes Estate home of a friend, when they came off the motorbike on a bend on Littles Rd, Dalefield, about 8.30pm.

The pair were taken to Lakes District Hospital, where Hensman was treated for a head injury before being flown to Southland Hospital, in Invercargill, while Ms Couch received 19 stitches for a head wound.

Analysis of an evidential blood test by Environmental Science and Research, and an independent testing company, showed blood-alcohol levels below but near the then legal limit of 80mg per 100ml of blood.

A friend of the defendant, David Esler, told the court Hensman came to his home after they had been at a work Christmas function at a winery, and later borrowed his motorcycle to go joyriding - first by himself, then with a female party-goer, and finally with Ms Gower.

He was unconcerned about Hensman's level of intoxication, because his friend had told him before the lunch he would not be drinking much as he had a business meeting the next day.

Ms Dawson told the court she and Hensman were "just cruising along, not going particularly fast" when "all of a sudden, we were off the road".

Her helmet came off in the fall, and she suffered a cut to the head and cuts and grazes to her legs.

Senior Constable Terry Erceg, of Queenstown police, told the court he arrived at the scene about 20 minutes after the accident to find Hensman and Ms Dawson in an ambulance.

He did not speak to the defendant, but noticed a "pungent" smell of alcohol in the vehicle.

In his subsequent traffic crash report, he estimated the speed of the motorcycle at the time of the accident to be 60km/h to 80km/h, which he judged "too fast" for a bend with a 45km/h advisory speed sign.

He photographed some areas of gravel on the road that appeared to have been caused by recent road works, but did not consider it to be a "major issue".

Under cross-examination from Hensman's defence counsel, Pip Hall, Mr Erceg accepted his estimate of the motorcycle's speed to be a "guesstimate".