Smashed into 2 cars, drove BMW on rims
A DUNEDIN realestate agent smashed into two cars and drove his white BMW home on its rims, a court has heard.
Jason Edward Hynes (35), LJ Hooker’s top salesperson in the city for the past three years, yesterday pleaded guilty in the Dunedin District Court to dangerous driving.
Hynes, who admitted drinking that night, could not be breathalysed because he went home to bed rather than stay at the scene for the arrival of police.
A police summary said when they found the wrecked BMW outside the defendant’s home that day, the inside smelled of alcohol.
Hynes, the court heard, was driving along Highcliff Rd in the early hours of August 24 last year.
‘‘A man making a wrong decision to drive late at night when he was tired, had some drinks earlier in the evening while at a friend’s place for dinner. At 2am he elected to drive home and is now facing the consequences for that,’’ defence counsel Colin Withnall QC said.
‘‘He either lost concentration or has drifted off to sleep.’’
The lapse saw Hynes plough into a Toyota parked on the roadside, shunting it across a driveway and into a neighbour’s fence.
The defendant ricocheted into another Toyota, which ended up in the middle of the road.
Despite his BMW being extensively damaged, the tyres completely deflated, Hynes drove the 800m back to his house.
Marks gouged into the road suggested he had weaved on to the wrong side three times, Judge Kevin Phillips said.
When police spoke to Hynes he said he had three drinks that night.
He could not recall how he lost control, he told officers.
One of the Toyota owners said, nearly a year on from finding her car written off, the episode still stung.
The victim said she and her family spent more than an hour in the morning cleaning up the damage caused by Hynes.
‘‘Where were you?’’ she asked, reading a statement in court yesterday.
The fact Hynes did not front up after the smash was the most hurtful thing, she said.
That pain was compounded, the victim told the court, when she saw a new BMW parked outside the man’s house within days, while she had to rearrange her life to cope with the loss of her vehicle.
Judge Phillips banned Hynes from driving for six months.
He ordered him to pay the woman $2000 reparation, as well as $500 to the other victim.
❛ A man making a wrong decision to drive late at night when he was tired, had some drinks earlier in the evening while at a friend’s place for dinner. At 2am he elected to drive home and is now facing the consequences for that
defence counsel Colin Withnall