Driver, passenger on trial for manslaughter

Two men on trial for manslaughter were allegedly going more than 150kmh when the car they were racing lost control and crashed, killing the four people inside.

The Crown also alleges that one of the men on trial edited video on his iPhone to remove incriminating evidence.

Details of the events south of Hamilton on June 24, 2016, were revealed on the first day of the trial in the High Court at Hamilton yesterday.

Dylan Cossey, 20, allegedly sped from the crash site near Hamilton Airport with Stephen John Jones, 20, in the passenger seat. The pair face four counts each of manslaughter relating to the deaths of Hannah Leis Strickett-Craze, 24, Lance Tyrone Robinson, 28, and Paul De Silva, 20, from Waipa, and Jason McCormick Ross, 19, from Taranaki, all of whom died at the scene.

The alleged race between the Honda Integra that Cossey was driving and the Nissan Skyline the four who died were travelling in came to a sudden end when the Nissan collided with an oncoming van about 10pm.

Both Cossey and Jones have also been charged with causing injury to the van’s driver and failing to stop to ascertain injury. The van driver suffered multiple leg fractures and had to be cut from his vehicle.

Jones is also charged with one count of attempting to pervert the course of justice. That charge relates to his alleged editing of an iPhone video he took of the crash and the moments leading up to it, removing 20 seconds of incriminating evidence before handing his phone in to police.

The trial, before Justice Anne Hinton, began yesterday. It is estimated it will run for two weeks. The public gallery on the first day was packed with supporters of both the accused men and friends and family of the dead.

The defendants have two of Hamilton’s top lawyers acting on their behalf. Cossey has enlisted the services of Philip Morgan, QC, while Jones has Russell Boot – the Waikato/Bay of Plenty branch president of the New Zealand Law Society – as his counsel.

Duncan McWilliam is acting on behalf of the Crown. In his opening address to the jury of seven women and five men, he outlined the path taken by both Cossey and Robinson, who was driving the Nissan.

They did not know each other, but for some reason began racing each other northward when their paths converged north of Te Awamutu.

Witnesses estimated the two cars were speeding in excess of 150kmh when, near the intersection with Penniket Rd, Robinson lost control as he attempted to pass Cossey and fish-tailed before smashing into an oncoming Toyota Hi-Ace plumbing company van.

Witnesses would tell the court of seeing another set of tail lights – Cossey’s car – speeding away from the crash scene, McWilliam said.

Jones had edited what was 38 seconds of footage down to 11 seconds ‘‘to remove damning evidence that proved the dangerous speed Cossey was driving’’.

Morgan said the cause of the accident was Robinson’s driving and the jurors would need to determine whether either ‘‘the actions or inaction of Mr Cossey was causative of the deaths of the four’’.

‘‘Mr Cossey is not criminally responsible for the driving speed of Mr Robinson.’’

Boot also addressed the jury, telling them Jones was merely a passenger in Cossey’s car and he had not encouraged his friend to speed in any way. ‘‘All he did was sit there and record what was going on.’’

Boot said Jones had no intention of attempting to pervert the course of justice by editing parts out of the video and he had willingly handed his iPhone in to the police.

Cossey and Jones were charged on November 8, 2016. They first appeared in court on December 13 of that year.

Before the trial began, Justice Hinton ruled media were not able to photograph or film the two defendants in court. The reasons for that decision are not able to be reported.