Reparation over crash tops $2000
A MAN who fell asleep at the wheel, causing a headon smash that left a woman trapped upside down for two hours, has been ordered to pay her more than $2000.
Sam Lawrence Connor (28) was driving east on State Highway 8 in Beaumont with his wife and infant child on July 29, the Dunedin District Court heard yesterday.
At 2.30pm — despite having a 50minute rest earlier in the journey — the defendant dozed off at the wheel.
His vehicle, which was towing a boat on a trailer, veered into oncoming traffic and slammed into a camper van carrying an elderly man and his wife.
The force of the collision flipped both vehicles and sent them spinning off the road.
Connor, the court heard, received a deep laceration to his neck but his wife and child were uninjured.
The driver of the camper van managed to pull himself out of the wreckage but his wife was not so lucky.
She remained suspended upside down for two hours until fire crews were able to extricate her.
She was taken to Dunedin Hospital by helicopter with a variety of cuts and bruises covering much of her body.
Judge Emma Smith said the victim had such severe back and hip pain since the incident that she was unable to walk unassisted.
The woman also suffered ulcers on her legs, which she put down to the ordeal.
Both vehicles were written off. Defence counsel Werner van Harselaar said his client did not know why he fell asleep and had gone for tests at the hospital in search of an answer.
‘‘It was a normal day. He can’t work out what happened,’’ he said.
Connor had not been able to drive since December so had been clocking up 10km a day on foot, bike or skateboard, Mr van Harselaar told the court.
Judge Smith noted the defendant — who was employed in forestry — was a valued employee and had no previous convictions.
She ordered Connor pay the victim $2339 to cover emotional harm and costs associated with the crash, and banned him from driving for the mandatory minimum of six months.