A deadly game of chicken
Leonard Bagley says waking from a coma to learn his wife had died was like someone taking his heart and breaking it.
It was incredibly painful to not have been able to say goodbye, he said.
Leonard, his wife Emma and their two children were in the family car on a suburban Invercargill street when they were T-boned by a car travelling at 121kmh on December 7, 2018.
Taine Reupena Tata Bryn Edwards, 22, who was a passenger in the car that hit the Bagleys, appeared before Justice Cameron Mander in the High Court at Invercargill yesterday.
He was sentenced to two years and six months in prison for being a party to manslaughter, and received concurrent 18-month sentences for each of three charges of being a party to reckless driving.
The Crown prosecutor read Leonard Bagley’s victim impact statement.
‘‘I have lost the love of my life, and my children their mother, due to the selfish actions of someone else.’’
His own injuries from the crash were extensive and included a fractured and dislocated spine and shoulders, a fractured pelvis and tailbone, a ruptured diaphragm, a collapsed lung and a large bleed into his chest cavity.
Dejay Rawiri Kane, 21, who was the driver of the vehicle, had previously admitted to manslaughter and four charges of reckless driving and was sentenced last year to four years and eight months’ jail.
Edwards was found guilty at a trial in September this year.
During Edwards’ trial and Kane’s sentencing, the courts heard that both men were intoxicated at the time of the crash. Edwards, as the passenger, and Kane, as the driver, had played chicken or ‘‘Russian roulette’’ as the car sped through give-way signs before the crash, Justice Mander said.
Edwards’ presence in the car was a persistent encouragement of Kane to drive the way he did, Justice Mander said. The car went through a series of give-way signs before it hit the Bagleys at the intersection of Clifton and Newcastle streets in Windsor, Invercargill.
The Russian roulette ended, almost inevitably, with the death of an innocent person travelling with the right of way down a connecting street, Justice Mander said.
Edwards’ lawyer, Fiona Guy Kidd, said not a day went by when he did not think about the Bagleys.
Edwards had offered to withdraw all the $12,000 in his KiwiSaver account as a reparation payment.
He had done a driving programme, which exposed repeat drink, dangerous and disqualified drivers to confronting material, Guy Kidd said.
Yesterday was the second time in two years that Emma Bagley’s father, Bruce Duncan, had stood in court and read a victim impact statement on behalf of his family.
His daughter and son-in-law made law-abiding decisions that night; Kane and Edwards did not, Duncan said. The Bagleys were sober, licensed and driving to the speed limit.
‘‘Some individuals continue to make very poor, dangerous choices, with scant regard for the consequences as a result,’’ Duncan said.
Emma Bagley died in the critical care unit at Southland Hospital the day after the crash.
Justice Mander also disqualified Edwards from driving for three years and ordered a $12,000 emotional harm payment.