Reparation 'bit of a joke'

Drink-drive victim Michelle Davies says the system favours criminals. Photo / Herald on Sunday

Michelle Davies receives $52.13 a fortnight from a drink-driver who ploughed into her car at Maramarua nearly four years ago.

The former interior designer, who awoke from a coma with brain damage weeks after her 6-year-old daughter was told she would not come home, was awarded the payment after the man responsible, former policeman Jason Peters, was sentenced to 12 months' home detention and ordered to pay reparation in September 2008.

Mrs Davies says she is owed a further $2000, which at the current rate of payment is likely to be settled around the middle of next year.

"It's a bit of a joke, I guess he spent all of his money on his lawyers," she said.

While Peters had been prompt with his payments, Mrs Davies was still highly critical of the reparation process which she said favoured criminals.

Mrs Davies, who suffers headaches and fatigue, did not hear from Peters for nearly two years until a few weeks before his trial.

"He totally played the game and knew how to play it. He had the right kind of lawyers to be able to get through the system," she said. "I had no rights at all, I am absolutely and utterly disgusted by our justice system."

Mrs Davies told the Herald the accident left her $500,000 out of pocket and she has been out of work since.

She is now studying environmental design but says her memory is no longer as sharp as it once was.