Kiri Allan crash: Former Justice Minister convicted for drink-driving crash, refusing to go with police

Kiri Allan has been convicted for refusing to accompany police after crashing a car while over the drink-driving limit.

The disgraced former Justice Minister pleaded guilty this morning to the charge. She had earlier admitted a charge of careless driving.

Allan was due to go on trial in the Wellington District Court this morning for an incident in which she crashed into a parked car while over the legal alcohol limit, then refused to go with police. She ended up being arrested and taken to the police cells after the incident in July.

But having pleaded guilty at the last minute, she was convicted and sentenced to a fine of $300, and ordered to pay $5296 reparation. She had unsuccessfully applied for a discharge without conviction for the refusing to accompany charge.

Allan, who resigned her portfolios and left politics after the incident, had elected a judge-alone trial, earlier telling the Herald she wanted to test an apparent grey area in the law about the right to consult a lawyer.

This morning, Allan maintained her legal advice suggested there was a case to be argued.

“The last year has been challenging and is a chapter I am wanting closed,” she told the Herald.

“This case is a bookend to that and while the legal advice I received made it clear there was a case to be argued, I’m focused on the future, my whānau and concentrating on what’s important.”

A photo taken in the aftermath shows her vehicle on an angle in the middle of the road, with the headlights pointing in the direction of the ute she had collided with.

After the crash, Allan allegedly refused to accompany police and was arrested and held in the police cells overnight.

Allan had earlier said she pleaded not guilty to the charge of failing to accompany a police officer to test what she saw as a grey area “based on the legal principle that all New Zealanders are entitled to consult with a lawyer”.

Allan had requested to speak to a lawyer immediately before and after her arrest by police.

Kiri Allan did not appear in court today for her sentencing as the level of charge does not require her attendance. Photo / Alan Gibson - Gibson Images Ltd.

The Bill of Rights Act states anyone arrested or detained under any enactment must be informed at the time of the arrest of the reason for it, and “shall have the right to consult and instruct a lawyer without delay and to be informed of that right”.

But this morning in court, a registrar confirmed to media that Allan had entered a guilty plea on the papers and would not be appearing in court today.

During the hearing, Allan’s lawyer, Chris Stevenson, asked for a discharge without conviction on the refusing to accompany charge, saying it was “unlucky” she had even been charged with it.

“She’s a young woman and it would be a permanent reputational mark on her record,” he said. “It might not fairly, one would think, reflect the circumstances of what happened here.”

He said Allan was not “wantonly refusing to accompany”.

Judge Brooke Gibson noted in Crown submissions that police offered for her to speak to a lawyer privately while in the back of the police car, but Allan declined, wanting to speak to a lawyer on the roadside instead.

Damage to the Hyundai Kona driven by Kiri Allan on Evans Bay Parade in Wellington on Sunday night.

He declined to discharge her without conviction, saying the legislation directed he do so only if the consequences of a conviction would be out of all proportion to the gravity of the offending.

Given Allan had already suffered all the consequences of her offending, Judge Gibson could not find that a conviction would make any difference to the impact.

Describing the incident, he said she was driving on a wet road about 9pm on July 23 last year when the car she was in “veered to the left-hand side of the road and collided with a parked vehicle”, causing “extensive damage” to both cars.

She co-operated with police and provided a breath alcohol test, but when told she needed to accompany police for a proper evidential test, she refused, saying she wanted to speak to a lawyer first. Her breath alcohol level was 335mcg. The legal limit is 250mcg, but only readings over 400mcg attract a criminal charge.

She was warned several times she needed to accompany the officer, but was eventually arrested.

In sentencing, Judge Gibson noted she had a previous conviction from “some 20 years ago” for drink-driving, but due to how long ago it was, he did not take it into account when deciding on her sentencing today.

Melissa Nightingale is a Wellington-based reporter who covers crime, justice and news in the capital. She joined the Herald in 2016 and has worked as a journalist for 10 years.