Man disqualified for careless driving in fatal crash

A ROAD accident had left ‘‘in our hearts and in both families’’ a massive hole that could never be filled, a mother told the Dunedin District Court yesterday.

‘‘We all need to stick together and share our memories . . . to laugh, cry and just live,’’ the woman said.

She was reading a victim impact statement at the sentencing of Ross William Smaill (56), who had admitted three charges of careless driving causing injury, and one charge of operating a goods service without an appropriate licence.

Smaill faced the charges after a crash on State Highway 1, near Edendale, early on January 13.

Driving a 12tonne truck loaded with bobby calves, he moved left and went off the sealed roadway trying to let other vehicles pass.

The truck rolled down a small bank and through a fence before coming to rest on its side in a paddock.

Smaill’s passengers were his neighbour’s 4yearold boy and the boy’s 6yearold twin siblings.

The 4yearold died in an ambulance.

Smaill was not charged with causing the fatality because the boy’s cause of death was ruled to be a cardiac arrest, police said.

The boys’ injuries from the crash were a deep cut to the back of the left knee (the 4yearold) and cuts and bruising (the twins). Smaill was also injured.

Some of the bobby calves had to be put down.

Because of the size of the vehicle, Smaill had to have an approved transport service licence but he did not.

‘‘We hold no anger or negativity towards Ross,’’ the victims’ mother said. ‘‘We class him as part of our family. He loves our kids like they are his own.’’

On the night, the children had been having so much fun and were so happy to be spending time with him. They could not have been in better hands, she said.

Being able to have a strong close relationship with the defendant ‘‘is a massive part of our family healing process’’, she told Judge John Macdonald.

She also said if it was up to the family there would be no charges.

‘‘If not for his selfless act of throwing himself over them, things could have been much worse.’’

Describing the case as ‘‘terribly sad’’, the judge said he would give as much weight as he could to the views of the victims’ parents.

And he told Smaill his carelessness involved misjudgment. ‘‘The irony is you were trying to be considerate to other vehicles behind.’’

The carelessness must be seen as at the lowest end of the scale, the judge said.

On charges of careless driving causing injury, Smaill was convicted and disqualified from driving for six months. On the other charge, he was convicted and fined $250, court costs $130.