Man jailed over fatal crash

An Australian man has been sentenced to two years and one month behind bars after a boozy heli-skiing holiday in New Zealand ended in the death of his cousin and a 72-year-old man.

Mark Edward Hayden, 53, was sentenced on a charge of manslaughter in relation to the death of Nigel Stuart Freeman from Twizel.

Hayden’s cousin, Stephen Hayden, and Freeman were killed on July 3, 2017 when the vehicles they were driving crashed on State Highway 8 near Tekapo. Mark Hayden was in the passenger seat, but was charged as a party to manslaughter.

A noticeably thinner Hayden appeared in the High Court at Christchurch yesterday, wearing surgical gloves and a surgical mask pulled down under his chin. He was visibly distraught as he sat with his head in his hand during the hearing.

In March he pleaded guilty to manslaughter. The Crown said although Hayden was not driving the vehicle, he encouraged his cousin to drink copious amounts of alcohol and to drive recklessly.

‘‘[He] indeed actively participated in the events leading to the deaths. The final act of dissuading the police officer from intervening and stopping Stephen Hayden from driving, directly resulted in the deaths of Nigel Freeman and Stephen Hayden,’’ the Crown said.

Hayden’s defence counsel, Jonathan Eaton QC, denied that Hayden had encouraged his cousin to flee from police or that he never attempted to stop his cousin from driving recklessly. Eaton said while Hayden acknowledges their intoxication, he never encouraged Stephen Hayden to flee from police and he did try to dissuade his cousin from driving so recklessly.

A number of affidavits by Hayden’s family and friends submitted to court painted a picture of a loving husband and father, and active and supportive member of his community, whose actions on that day were completely at odds with the character he had demonstrated his entire life, Eaton said.

‘‘Mark Hayden is very much a broken man — physically, mentally, emotionally.,’’ Eaton said.

Nigel Freeman’s son, Gavin Freeman, read his victim impact statement via audio visual link.

‘‘I wonder did he see the other car, did he know what was about to happen? I wonder if he suffered. What was the last thing he thought of before he was killed? Was it about us, his family? I wonder why he had to die when he was so fit and healthy and had so much more to do in his life. Every day I wonder these things. Every day I miss him.’’