One of New Zealand’s biggest drug busts uncovered, the new policy threatening 20 years behind bars for Kiwis in Bali and Florida braces for another ferocious storm.
Ghomer Dulay sentenced after crashing his car into a tree, killing his two teenage children.
The father hit the accelerator instead of the brakes, losing control at about 120km/h on gravel.
Dulay pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death and injury.
Emergency services were called to the double-fatal crash on Rakaia Terrace Rd in Canterbury at 2.46pm on August 5 last year.
Khatricia Dulay, 19, and Ian Dulay, 17, died following the collision. Their elder sister, 22-year-old Christine Dulay, was critically injured as was their father’s wife, Virginita Torregosa. Ghomer himself suffered moderate injuries.
Ghomer Dulay was charged by police and later pleaded guilty to a charge of dangerous driving causing death – and dangerous driving causing injury.
Today at Christchurch District Court, 46-year-old Dulay was sentenced to three months of community detention as well as nine months of supervision. He has also lost his licence for a year.
Dulay cares for his eldest daughter, who remains severely injured, the court heard this afternoon.
Judge Mark Callaghan commended Dulay for putting her above his own grief he was facing.
”To your credit, I think you have done a wonderful job in doing this, in that you put your injured daughter before your own desire to escape the grief you’ve obviously been suffering,” the judge said.
Ghomer Dulay was sentenced at Christchurch District Court today. Photo / Blake Benny
“The law says I have to hold you accountable for your actions – well, you have to live with the fact that you caused the death of your son and daughter, and you’ve injured your other daughter and partner of the time – and have lost the relationship with her.
“You will live with this tragedy for the rest of your life and nothing that I as the judge or the courts can do will have any impact upon that for sentencing purposes.
“Jail is not an appropriate response, you will live with this tragedy for the rest of your life”.
Judge Callaghan conceded that a sentencing of home detention would only compound issues Dulay is facing, including depression, PTSD, and a complex grief disorder.
Torregosa was sitting in the front passenger seat, Christine was sitting on the right of the rear seat, Ian in the middle and Khatricia on the left of the rear passenger seat.
Dulay drove out of Christchurch on State Highway 76, following GPS instructions from a cellphone.
He continued southwest and arrived on Rakaia Terrace Rd driving northwest.
Ghomer Dulay (left), Khatricia Dulay, Christine Joy Dulay and Ian Dulay.
Rakaia Terrace Rd is a straight, flat rural road with a de-restricted speed limit and a chip-seal surface.
About 2.5km northwest of the intersection with Te Pirita Rd, the surface of the road changes from chip-seal to an unsealed gravel-on-dirt surface. About 150m before the surface change, there was a large warning gravel sign on either side of the road, facing southeast.
Dulay hit the accelerator rather than the brakes when he hit the gravel surface at about 120km/h.
About three seconds after entering the gravel section of the road, Dulay lost control of the vehicle. The car veered to the right-hand side of the road, across a grass area and the passenger side struck a tree. The vehicle spun around the tree and came to a stop on its roof.
Dulay got out of the car and pulled the victims Torregosa and Christine out of the car. He was unable to get Khatricia and Ian.
Khatricia and Ian were pronounced dead at the scene. A post-mortem examination found their deaths were caused by high-energy impact injuries to the head, chest, pelvis and limbs.
Torregosa spent 10 nights in the hospital with impact injuries to her left side. Christine remained in hospital, the summary said, undergoing regular surgeries suffering a fractured eye socket and ribs, and injuries to her limbs and torso.
Ghomer Dulay earlier told the Herald the family’s morning had been full of “laughing and joking” and cooking together, enjoying each others’ company after eight years living apart.
About 1.30pm they left their home in Christchurch to head to Mt Hutt.
“They wanted to see the snow. It’s their first time here and ... I want to make them happy.”
Just over an hour after they left home, Ghomer Dulay was driving along Rakaia Terrace Rd when he saw what he thought was a rabbit running across the road.
“That’s why I tried to brake and now sliding the car and zig-zag,” he said.
It was not until later that evening that police informed him two of his children were dead. His oldest child was critically injured as was his partner.
“It’s so sad when I got that news, I was crying,” he said. “I have two kids gone.”
He said he wanted to tell his children he was “sorry” for what happened.
“I don’t want this to happen … they’re my blood,” he said.
His son was studying at the time. His daughters and his partner are all caregivers.
“Their dreams are nothing now, and also my dreams to give them a big future here.
“It’s gone. I want them to be happy, that’s why all their life I just follow them. ‘Pa, let’s go there, I want to see the snow, Pa let’s go there, I want to visit this’.”
