Anger at killer driver’s sentence
Mum: Community term gives no accountability
The family of a man killed when he was hit by a woman driving the wrong way on a motorway say she was treated casually by the law. Kathleen Valda Grey, 72, yesterday was handed a six-month community detention sentence for killing 25-yearold Samuel Jackson-SeligmanLemaire as he rode his motorbike to his mother’s house in the early hours of December 29 last year.
She was also disqualified from driving for 18 months and ordered to pay $3000 reparations.
His family say the sentence doesn’t discourage other drivers from making bad decisions behind the wheel.
“We’re really disappointed,” said mum Lisa Lemaire after the Wellington District Court sentencing.
“We just think for the way Mrs Grey drove that night, she’s not been held accountable for taking our son’s life.”
Grey had driven 800km that day, leaving from the top of the North Island and making her way down to Wellington to catch a ferry to the South Island — a trip of about 11 hours.
After arriving at the ferry terminal and realising she had time to spare, Grey decided to go for another drive — leading to her heading the wrong way on State Highway 1 for 13.5km before the crash near Johnsonville.
“She told the police she went for a drive because she was bored and she needed to kill time, and she killed my son instead,” Lemaire said.
She told the police she went for a drive because she was bored and she needed to kill time, and she killed my son instead. Lisa Lemaire
Lemaire said the way the law treated drivers was too “casual”, and said the road toll would not come down until changes — such as harsher sentencing — were made.
“We didn’t want her hung, drawn and quartered, we didn’t want her jailed, but we wanted her to be held accountable, because her driving that night was really far from what any kind of Kiwi would find was acceptable.”
In February, Grey pleaded guilty to aggravated careless driving causing death. In court yesterday, Judge Bruce Davidson attributed the crash to fatigue, pointing to the fact Grey had driven the entire day and hadn’t slept for many hours.
The decision to go out for another drive has bewildered Jackson-Seligman-Lemaire’s loved ones — as has the law that prevented police from ordering a blood test for Grey.
While Grey passed an alcohol breath test, family wanted to know why a blood test screening for drugs hadn’t been done.
A police spokeswoman told the Herald police and doctors did not see any evidence to suggest Grey was under the influence of any type of drug, which meant they did not have grounds to take a blood test.
The family also shared memories of their “lovable rogue”, describing him as funny, big-hearted, and caring.
Jackson-Seligman-Lemaire, who had connections to Black Power, was respected by his enemies, his mother said.
Loved ones shared fond memories of him making a toasted sandwich with a clothes iron — a trick he learned in prison — and said he hated being alone.
“He was a bit of a ratbag, our son, but nobody ever closed the door on him,” Lemaire said.
“We probably tried to sometimes but he would come in through the window.”