Coroner: man caused own death

WELLINGTON: A 22yearold Hutt man driving drunk in a ‘‘dangerous’’ unwarranted car has been found to have caused the crash he died in — despite an earlier criminal prosecution against his passenger.

LeytonLeigh Tokorangi Alderson died at the scene of crash in June 2015, when the twodoor Nissan Skyline he was driving hit a bridge abutment and rolled, Coroner Tim Scott said in a finding released yesterday.

At the heart of the coroner’s decision was an argument about who was actually driving — Alderson or Beau MacIntyre McMenamin, who was also in the car.

Police charged McMenamin with drinkdriving causing death, but the prosecution was unsuccessful and the charges against him were dismissed.

The reason for the failed prosecution is unclear — Mr Scott chose not to read the District Court’s decision dismissing the charge, as lawyers for Alderson’s family and for McMenamin had not indicated whether they consented to it.

The two men and Alderson’s cousin, Chayne Kaio, were in the car heading home from a party in Wainuiomata on the night of the crash.

Alderson was ‘‘significantly impaired by the combination of cannabis and alcohol’’ in his system. His bloodalcohol level was more than double the legal limit, at 101mg.

McMenamin had about the same amount of alcohol in his system.

A police crash investigation report concluded the car was in poor condition and should not have been driven that night.

Kaio’s evidence was that after the car crashed, she unbuckled Alderson from the driver’s seat and pulled him from the vehicle.

‘‘She pulled him to a place of safety and remained with him, although sadly he was deceased. She did not go back to the car again to rescue Beau in the same way,’’ the coroner said. Kaio and McMenamin did not know one another and had only met at the party.

Mr Scott believed even if McMenamin’s reason for saying Alderson was driving was to protect himself, Kaio had no reason to protect McMenamin. She died in tragic circumstances a few months after the crash, so could not attend the hearing and be questioned on her statements, Coroner Scott said.

One issue that caused the coroner ‘‘considerable difficulty’’ was the fact firefighters found McMenamin ‘‘tangled’’ in the driver’s seatbelt, with half of his body hanging out the rear window of the car.

‘‘I questioned [a traffic engineer] carefully about this, because to my mind how this happened was crucial. [He] was quite clear. He said that it was not surprising that Beau might become caught by the driver’s seatbelt while trying to get out of the car himself. The car was virtually upside down and on its side with the driver’s side nearest to the ground. It was dark.’’

While it cannot be proved beyond reasonable doubt who was driving — as is the threshold in a criminal court — the Coroners Court requires only that the balance of probabilities be met.

Mr Scott said three pathologists agreed it was most likely Alderson was driving. —NZME