Driver’s appeal dismissed

A Taranaki man who caused a crash while driving high on methamphetamine has unsuccessfully appealed the length of his jail sentence.

Douglas Capstick was sentenced in November to two years and 11 months imprisonment on 11 charges relating to five incidents.

The lead offence was a driving incident on July 9 when Capstick, in his late 20s, caused a head-on crash at an intersection in Brixton. He fled the scene before emergency services arrived.

The man driving the truck Capstick crashed into suffered multiple breaks to his legs and significant injuries to his lower body, while his granddaughter, a passenger in the vehicle, received a cut to her face.

Within hours police tracked Capstick to a Waitara address and tests revealed he had methamphetamine in his system. At the time of the crash, Capstick, who had previously been jailed for similar driving offences, was on bail for a serious driving incident.

Capstick’s lawyer, Julian Hannam, appealed to the High Court against the sentence’s length, saying it was manifestly excessive and arguing for a reduction of six months.

He said the crash was a single, brief incident of bad driving and although it caused serious injuries, they were not at the high end of the spectrum.

Hannam further submitted there was no established causative link between the methamphetamine found in Capstick’s system, an aggravating factor, and his poor decision to pass at the intersection, which caused the crash.

But in an April decision, only made public last week, Justice Simon France dismissed the appeal.

Justice France accepted the driving incident was not the worst example of its type. ‘‘It was, however, a very dangerous thing to do, and the consequence of a significant crash was very likely.’’