Fight to contest evidence in fatal crash abandoned

The wrecked Subaru Impreza STI. Photo / APN

A man involved in a high-speed head-on crash in Tauranga that killed a man and seriously injured the female driver of the other vehicle has abandoned his fight to contest police evidence.

Anthony James White, then aged 21, was jailed for six-and-half years in June 2010 after he was found guilty at trial in the High Court at Rotorua of manslaughter and two counts of dangerous driving causing injury.

He has maintained his claim that he was not driving the car when it crashed.

The jury rejected White's claim that his front-seat passenger Eligh Smith, then aged 19, was the person driving the Subaru Impreza STI when it smashed head-on into Meghan Bowker's Volkswagen Passat on August 2, 2008.

Ms Bowker, the daughter of Tauranga businessman Paul Bowker, underwent surgery for life-threatening internal and head injuries, while Andrew Opin, 37, of Te Kauwhata, the back-seat passenger in the other vehicle died at the scene.

Mr Smith suffered a broken ankle and superficial head injuries.

After White lost his bid to have his convictions quashed by the Court of Appeal last year the Crown sought to have his conviction record used as conclusive proof that he was driving to convict him in relation to charges of driving while disqualified and driving with an excess blood alcohol of 57 milligrams of alcohol per litre of breath. The charges stem from the same crash.

White opposed the Crown's application and sought Judge Peter Rollo's leave to present further evidence to the court to contest the police allegations that he was driving and challenge the blood test results.

But in Tauranga District Court yesterday, White abandoned his fight following a reserved decision delivered by Judge Rollo last week in which he supported the Court of Appeal's ruling.

White's lawyer James Maddox told Judge Rollo that while his client was no longer contesting the police evidence he was unable to plead guilty as he maintained he was not driving.

Judge Rollo said he was satisfied after reviewing the trial transcripts, the crash report and Court of Appeal judgment and the rest of evidence that the charges were proven.

White was convicted of both charges and disqualified for a further six months from December 4 when his current disqualification was due to end.