Garath Collings was sentenced for murder at the High Court in Christchurch today for a July 2020 fatal hit and run. Photo / Kurt Bayer
A driver who fatally mowed down a man during a street argument has today been jailed for at least 11 years.
Garath Richard Collings, 43, had argued with Robin Friend at his driver's window before accelerating when Friend walked in front of the vehicle in a Parklands, Christchurch cul-de-sac on July 30, 2020.
The father-of-five later handed himself in to police and was charged with murder – but at his trial he unsuccessfully argued he hadn't meant to kill Friend.
His defence said that Collings "was robbed of his good sense in an absolute moment of madness" and was suffering from the grief of his daughter's recent road accident death, as well as PTSD dating back to a childhood episode, along with a history of methamphetamine use.
Today at the High Court in Christchurch Collings was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 11 years.
His lawyer Donald Matthews this morning argued that a sentence of life imprisonment would be manifestly unjust.
However, Justice Cameron Mander disagreed, saying that Collings had used his car in the same way someone might use a gun or knife.
The court saw CCTV footage of the incident, captured by a neighbour's private security system, which the judge said showed Collings' "obvious objective" to run him over.
The Friend family say that Collings' lack of remorse "makes it near impossible" for them to even consider forgiveness.
Losing a loved one in such circumstances has been "incomprehensible", an emotional victim impact statement read aloud to the court said.
Collings' actions in having "hunted" Friend down have broken the family, the court heard.
He waited for Friend to move right in front of the car before putting his foot on the accelerator – and then steered a course that lasted "a number of seconds" and involved conscious-decision-making and ensured "maximum impact" on Friend, Crown prosecutor Deirdre Elsmore said today.
Matthews earlier told the jury that Collings still had to be held to account - he had offered a plea to manslaughter - but he had no murderous intent and was not guilty of murder.
He argued that Collings was not dealing rationally, and had no time to think of the consequences in the 3.4 seconds it took for the car to accelerate into Friend as he moved in front of the car, crush him, and crash into a roadside power box and hedge.
Matthews said witnesses in the car said it was "fairly petty, a fairly minor beef, and certainly nothing you would want to kill someone over".
The Crown case suggested there was swearing and a threat by Friend that Collings should "be sure to watch your kids". Collings' daughter had died a few weeks before.
In the seconds when Collings ran into Friend, the passengers in the car were screaming for him to stop, the Crown said.
They had time to appreciate the danger, but Collings had continued with his course of conduct which could have been stopped at any time.
"This was a focused, steely, determined act," she said.
There had previously been bad blood between the men, aggravated by a dispute about a woman they both seemed to care about, she said.
The incident was captured on a house security camera and played at the trial several times. Elsmore had it played again during her closing address.
She told the jury: "It could have been stopped at any time, but it didn't stop because the defendant didn't want it to. He wanted to hurt Robin Friend. He wanted to cause injuries so severe they could kill him. He simply wasn't listening as the passengers in the car screamed at him to stop."
The 19-year-old was found in a remote area in the hills of Upper Hutt.