KEY POINTS:
An elderly Taupo driver who hit a fellow churchgoer, causing fatal injuries, has been convicted and discharged - but he may never drive again.
Thomas McAneney, 73, was disqualified from driving for six months when he appeared in the Taupo District Court on Thursday for sentencing but the judge acknowledged he was likely to find it difficult to get behind the wheel again, even after his disqualification was over.
McAneney, who appeared before Judge Joanna Maze, had previously pleaded guilty to one charge of careless driving causing the death of 88-year-old Joan Brough. The accident happened when McAneney was driving to church one rainy Sunday in January.
He did not see Miss Brough standing in the middle of the road and hit her when she stepped out in front of his car.
Judge Maze said she had to take into account the actions of Miss Brough.
"But two acts of carelessness do not cancel each other out."
The judge conceded Miss Brough's family accepted that what had happened was truly "one of life's accidents".
McAneney's lawyer, Ian Farquar, said Miss Brough's family had not wanted the police to lay charges against him.
He submitted that McAneney's degree of carelessness was at the lower end of the scale.
He said McAneney had been a positive and contributing member of the community - donating hours of his time to volunteer work.
McAneney had said he was haunted by the death, especially given that Miss Brough had been a good friend of his late wife.
He said the accident had shaken his confidence and it had taken him about three months to drive again.
- Daily Post
