Is this fair?
Kerry Gunn died in a crash after a driver who had been drinking crossed the centre line and slammed into her car. The driver was sentenced to home detention.
The same day – February 10, just three weeks ago – a retailer was ordered to pay $800,000 for misleading advertising. The different sentences have left Kerry Gunn’s elderly father distraught. John Gunn does not blame the sentencing judges, saying they were following precedents. He said: “Where is a deterrent factor? The offender will sit amongst home comforts whilst [my daughter’s] ashes lie cold in her cremation casket. I question the sincerity of those in authority who call for a reduction in the rising road toll yet fail to provide a meaningful penalty.”
One misled customers and was hit with an $800,000 fine by the courts. The other was convicted of aggravated careless driving which resulted in a woman’s death. The driver, who got behind the wheel after drinking, escaped without a fine. He received home detention and lost his licence for two years.
The father of the dead woman cannot understand the discrepancy in sentences handed down by different judges on the same day.
Kerry Gunn, 54, died during the earlier hours of June 15 last year after Tristian Harley Mead hit her car headon just south of Warkworth.
Mead was sentenced on February 10 this year at the North Shore District Court to nine months’ home detention and disqualified from driving for two years on the charges of aggravated careless driving causing death while under the influence, and two similar charges of causing injury.
The maximum sentence which could have been imposed on Mead under the Land Transport Act was three years in prison, a $10,000 fine, and a minimum disqualification of one year.
Gunn’s father, John Gunn, did not criticise the sentencing judge, who he said was constrained by precedent.
However, he told the Herald there was seemingly a lack of a “deterrent factor”.
“The sentence can’t be altered or amended,” the 82-year-old said.
“But where is a deterrent factor? The offender will sit amongst home comforts whilst [my daughter’s] ashes lie cold in her cremation casket.
“I do question the sincerity of those in authority who call for a reduction in the rising road toll, yet fail to provide a meaningful penalty.”
He said he was waiting to receive the judge’s sentencing notes.
Police prosecutors had sought the full penalty of imprisonment for Mead, he said.
The night before the fatal crash, Mead had been drinking vodka mixers before and during the Chiefs v Wales rugby match in Hamilton, court documents show.
Post-match he drank a further five pints of beer before returning to his motel with a friend in a taxi.
The pair then had an argument and decided to drive home to Northland at about 2.45am in Mead’s ute.
Mead, 40, was also on a restricted driver’s licence, according to court documents.
Further north at Mangawhai, workmates Gunn and Paul Kerr left Placemakers at 4.05am, destined for Hamilton to work at the hardware store’s stand during Field Days.
About 4.50am, as both drivers travelled towards each other on SH1, Mead crossed the centreline and collided head-on with Gunn and Kerr.
Gunn died at the scene from her
The offender will sit amongst home comforts whilst [my daughter’s] ashes lie cold in her cremation casket. John Gunn
“massive injuries”. Kerr, Mead and his passenger were all transported to hospital with serious injuries.
Later, Kerr, who fractured several ribs and his sternum and suffered several lacerations, had his spleen removed during emergency surgery.
Blood was taken from Mead about three-and-a-half hours after the crash and returned a result of 17mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood.
However, court documents show further analysis by Environmental Science and Research forensic toxicologist Samantha Coward estimated Mead’s blood concentration at the time of the crash was between 52 to 87mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood, and likely at the mid-point of 70mg per 100ml. The legal limit for drivers 20 and over is 50mg per 100ml.
Criminal Bar Association president Len Andersen did not believe Mead’s sentence was inappropriate for the type of charge, given that it was not proven Mead was over the drink driving limit at the time of the crash.
Careless driving could mean something as simple as a moment of inattention, which Andersen said could happen to anyone.
Also on February 10, Bike Barn was ordered to pay $800,000 over an intensive advertising campaign which claimed bikes had been heavily discounted when in fact they were being sold for full price.
Bike Retail Group and Bikes International, operating as Bike Barn during the two-year period in question, were sentenced in Auckland District Court by Judge David Sharp.
The companies pleaded guilty to 16 charges brought by the Commerce Commission under the Fair Trading Act.