Kurow crash driver branded a 'coward' in court

Regan Edward Laughton in the Timaru District Court yesterday. Photo / Hamish MacLean, Otago Daily Times

The family of a man killed in a crash after a rugby club celebration near Kurow have blamed the ''cowardice'' of the driver of the vehicle for dividing the community.

Regan Edward Laughton, 41, a stock agent, of Hakataramea, was sentenced in the Timaru District Court yesterday to 11 months' home detention and 140 hours' community service, and ordered to pay $12,000 in emotional harm to the surviving victims, Ashley Boardman, Simon Bertenshaw, Timothy Anderson and English national Rob Courtnell, who suffered injuries he was not expected to survive.

Earlier, through the restorative justice process, Laughton had volunteered to pay $20,000 to the family of Jarrad Ethan Blackler, 23, who died in the crash on Hakataramea Valley Rd on May 10 last year.

The Blackler family, with a picture of Jarrad and a wooden box with his name, date of birth and the date of his death inscribed on top, read emotional victim impact statements in court.

Graeme Blackler, Jarrad's father, said that before the crash, he would not have expected the community to take sides, and it might not have if Laughton had acted differently - ''stand up, tell the truth, admit blame''.

''You have proven to us the coward that you are,'' he said.

At the sentencing yesterday, 576 days after the fatal crash, Blackler said he knew Laughton had been advised by his lawyer, David Jackson, of Christchurch, not to speak to the family, but said Laughton should not have taken that advice.

''You can blame the judgment of your lawyer,'' Blackler said, but Laughton could have said ''No, this has to be done''.

''You chose, rather than to say sorry, you chose to say nothing.''

Jarrad's mother, Rachel Blackler, told Laughton in court she lost sleep ''seeing in my mind Jarrad and his friends being thrown from your vehicle''.

She spent Mother's Day 2015 sitting in Dunedin Hospital stroking her son's hair ''knowing that he was dying before our eyes''.

''Every day my heart breaks a little more,'' she said.

She admonished the ''cavalier attitudes'' towards Kurow's drink-drive culture and accepted that the passengers had chosen to get into Laughton's vehicle, but said ensuring that the passengers arrived safely was then his ''duty''.

The speeds Laughton was said to have reached - up to 120kmh, according to the police summary of facts - showed Laughton had seen the drive as a ''chance to show off''.

And her son was ''carelessly and callously killed by you''.

Laughton pleaded guilty to amended charges in September this year.

The former North Otago representative rugby player admitted one count of driving under the influence of alcohol causing death and four counts of driving under the influence of alcohol causing injury.

In November last year, he pleaded not guilty to one count of excess blood-alcohol causing death, and four counts of excess blood alcohol causing injury.

The fatal crash happened after a lengthy celebration of a Kurow rugby victory. None of Laughton's five passengers had seatbelts on when the car rolled three and a-half times, throwing them all from the vehicle.

The sentence changed nothing for them and no sentence, however long, would ever compensate for the loss of a much-loved son, brother and friend, the Blacklers said.

Laughton said nothing during the sentencing. He closed his eyes at times during the reading of the Blacklers' victim impact statements.

Outside the courthouse after the sentencing, he declined to comment.

Judge David Saunders said the lack of expression of condolences by Laughton and the impact it had had on the Blacklers and Kurow would serve as a ''learning curve for police''.

''This was not handled particularly well,'' he said.

Jackson noted Laughton's suggestion that he become involved in education about drink-driving through his court-imposed community work.

''He will do whatever is necessary to make sure this does not happen again,'' Jackson said.

With a starting point of a three-year sentence, Judge Saunders credited Laughton for a clear prior record, the offer for voluntary reparations, and a guilty plea that saved the court the costs of a trial.