Driver at fault in fatal crash avoids jail
THE mother of a woman killed in a crash in Invercargill says she will never be able to live her life in full without ‘‘her baby’’.
Cathy Robertson gave a victim impact statement in the Invercargill District Court yesterday, during the sentencing of Corrina Jane Petersen over a crash which killed 21yearold Katie Deborah Robertson in February this year.
While travelling on Old Coach Rd, also known as State Highway 93, in Otaraia, Petersen pulled out to pass another car, but failed to see the victim’s car coming the other way.
She collided headon with Ms Robertson’s car and, as a result of high speed, the victim died instantly.
Petersen was charged with aggravated careless driving causing death and yesterday was sentenced by Judge Bernadette Farnan to 250 hours community work and six months of conditional supervision, which includes a requirement to undergo counselling.
She was also required to pay reparation of $18,000 to the family of the victim and was disqualified from driving for 18 months.
The family brought Ms Robertson’s ashes and a framed picture of her to court. Eight people, including her siblings, mother and father and boyfriend gave victim impact statements.
Mrs Robertson said the hardest thing she had had to do in her life was arrange her daughter’s funeral.
‘‘I wasn’t ready for her to go. What you did cost my family more than I can tell you. We will never be the same again. You’ve broken us.’’
Katie’s boyfriend Brodie Burridge said she made him the ‘‘happiest man in the earth’’ and he had not been able to sleep properly since the accident.
‘‘I lay staring into the darkness asking myself ‘why’ or what if?’. [It] has caused anxiety and depression.’’
On the morning of the accident, she woke up with her ‘‘beautiful smile’’ and before he went to work, Mr Burridge kissed her and said he loved her.
He could not believe the next few hours would be ‘‘the worst in his life’’ and everything would change.
‘‘. . . such a beautiful girl will never be able to complete her goals in life. Some of the goals she had set were travel the world, have children and get married. You’ve taken that away from her.’’
In their statements, family said they did not feel Petersen had shown remorse.
Police prosecutor Stewart Sluis said Petersen ‘‘deliberately put herself on the other side of the road’’, while defence lawyer John Farrow said her client accepted full responsibility for her actions.
His client was 57 years old at the time of the accident and had never had appeared in court before.
For nine years Petersen’s work included driving through Otago and Southland where she is a territory manager for a food company based in Dunedin.
He said it was unlikely his client would be able to keep her job after the sentencing.
‘‘At the end of the day, the defendant clearly acknowledges that nothing is going to bring Katie back. The defendant accepts she needs to be held accountable but she is genuinely remorseful.’’
After the sentencing, Katie’s mother said the sentence made her ‘‘numb.’’
‘‘Katie had her whole life in front of her. She [Petersen] got off easy.’’