Drink driver jailed for crash that caused Nelson baby's death

Baby Lochie was born by emergency C-section at 30 weeks just after the head-on crash, but died five days later in Wellington Hospital. Photo / Supplied

A drink driver who ploughed into an oncoming car and caused the death of a miracle baby has been jailed for more than three years.

Andrew Fleming was sentenced today in Nelson District Court for the crash on April 30 this year near Nelson.

He had been driving home from a friend's house in Tahunanui after a night's drinking when he smashed head-on into a vehicle carrying Jared Welsh and his partner Ash Reid, who was 30 weeks pregnant, Newshub reported.

He was so drunk he had earlier urinated in his pants.

Fleming, who suffers from alcohol addiction, recorded a blood alcohol level of 255 micograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood. The current limit is 50mg.

He crossed the centreline and ploughed into the couple's car. They were both seriously injured and Reid underwent an emergency C-section.

The scene of the head-on crash on Nelson's on Waimea Road on April 30. Photo / Supplied

Judge Tony Zohrab told the court that prior to falling pregnant the couple had been told they could not conceive and the baby was "greatly anticipated", Newshub reported.

The baby died a few days later in Wellington Hospital.

In an interview in May, Reid said she was grateful she got to spend five short days with the little boy Lochie before his life support was switched off.

The parents said the incident had left them traumatised and suffering nightmares.

But while Reid said she feels robbed of her son, she harboured no hate towards the man charged in connection with the accident.

"As much as there is so much anger there is no hate. There is no point wasting that energy," she said in May.

Up until falling pregnant the couple was told it was unlikely they would ever have a child.

Before the crash they had been "in countdown mode" and ready to celebrate their new baby. They had been driving home from a friend's house when they saw headlights before the oncoming vehicle slammed into their car.

Welsh was driving and the shock sent the steering wheel into his chest, breaking his sternum.

"I just turned to her and asked, 'Are you all right babe'? She said 'no'."

Then he pulled off his seatbelt and kicked open the door of the crumpled car. He limped around to his partner's side and ripped open her door and knelt with her. Then someone tried to pull him away.

"That's when the pain shot through me and I just blacked out on the road."

Reid was rushed to Nelson Hospital where she was put under general anaesthetic and had her son via C-section.

"When he was born he was awake, eyes open and he was just so perfect," she said. "For the first five days we were living on hope and faith."

The morning after the accident the mother and her son were flown to Wellington Hospital. Over the course of the next few days, he deteriorated.

"We didn't know at first that he wasn't going to survive," she said.

Then an MRI scan showed there was severe bleeding on his brain and he wouldn't make it.

On that last day, they were finally able to hold their son.

Parents Jared Welsh and Ash Reid took baby Lochie's hand and foot prints before the heart-breaking decision to turn off his life support. Photo / Supplied

"Up until his death he was still grabbing your fingers, he knew you were there," his father said.

"It was so heart-breaking to disconnect everything. It felt there was more we could do.

"It's the hardest thing we have ever had to deal with," Welsh said.

Judge Zohrab told Fleming: "This crash, the havoc that has been wreaked on the parents and the wider family, is infinite.

"This process will bring to an end your involvement to a degree, but for them, the suffering continues on for the rest of their lives."

Fleming pleaded guilty to causing death driving with excess blood alcohol and two counts of causing injury driving with excess blood alcohol, Newshub reported.

He was sentenced to three years and one month in prison, and disqualified from driving for five years and six months.