Final cases put in race crash trial

Was Dylan Cossey racing and if he was, did he kill four people?

The Crown and defence have delivered their final arguments in the case of an alleged street race south of Hamilton that ended in a head-on smash that killed four people.

Cossey, 20, allegedly fled from the crash site near Hamilton Airport on the night of June 24,

2016, with Stephen John Jones, 20, in the front passenger seat.

The pair are standing trial in the High Court in Hamilton, where they face four counts each of manslaughter relating to the deaths of Hannah Leis Strickett-Craze, 24, Lance Tyrone Robinson, 28, and Paul de Silva,

20, from Waipa, and Jason McCormick Ross,

19, from Taranaki, all of whom died after the Nissan Skyline they were travelling in lost control and crashed.

The alleged race between the Honda Integra Cossey was driving and the Skyline reached estimated speeds of more than 50kmh. It came to a sudden end when the Nissan lost control and collided with an oncoming van about 10pm.

Both Cossey and Jones have also been charged with causing injury to the van’s driver and failing to stop to ascertain injury. The van driver suffered multiple leg fractures and had to be cut from his vehicle.

Jones is also charged with one count of attempting to pervert the course of justice - a charge that relates to his alleged editing of the video he took of the crash and the moments leading up to and after it, removing 20 seconds of evidence before handing his phone in to police.

Crown prosecutor Duncan McWilliam said there could be no doubt that Cossey and Jones should be held responsible.

‘‘This, the Crown says, was a race. Races can happen organically. You don’t need to pull up and say, let’s have a race. This was a continuing race between these two vehicles. The overall picture is of two cars going at extreme speed, flying past, making people feel physically sick.

‘‘All of this is a race and racing is illegal - an illegal act, encouraged by Mr Jones, that has caused the deaths of four people and injury to another.’’

McWilliam said Jones had ‘‘demonstrably altered evidence’’ by deleting most of the footage he took before handing it in to the police, and was therefore guilty of perverting the course of justice.

‘‘He goes in to the police [station]. He gives them the 11-second version ... He does not mention the 38-second version at all.’’

Cossey’s counsel, Philip Morgan QC, said while some of his client’s actions, such as failing to stop at the crash scene, were morally reprehensible, it didn’t mean he was guilty of the charges before him.

‘‘However abhorrent you might find this, what it isn’t, is manslaughter.’’

While Robinson, who was behind the wheel of the Skyline, was definitely guilty of manslaughter, ‘‘it’s stretching the law too far to say that it is Mr Cossey who is also guilty’’.

‘‘This is a test of the law. This is not simply a case of the Crown asking for one thing and the defence asking for another ... the Crown has to establish that it was the unlawful act of Mr Cossey that was a substantive and operative cause of the deaths of the deceased.’’

Morgan QC said he had no doubt that some of the jurors would have been horrified by some of the evidence heard in court, ‘‘and I’m sure you have all experienced driving somewhere and people going past so fast that you thought there might be an accident’’, but they needed to take a dispassionate look at the situation.

It was Robinson, who driving at more than twice the legal alcohol limit and who had consumed methamphetamine, who was solely responsible. ‘‘He loses control of his car, overcorrects and the die is cast.’’

Jones’s lawyer Russell Boot asked the jury to find Jones not guilty on all charges.

‘‘Mr Jones was merely a passenger. He did nothing more than film the overtaking manoeuvre. In no way is he responsible for the deaths of the deceased. In no way is he responsible for the injuries [to the van’s driver]. In no way is he responsible for perverting the course of justice.’’

Jones had no other intention than assisting the police in their investigations by bringing them his footage of the incident, Boot said.

‘‘The cause of this accident is the unilateral actions of Mr Robinson [who is now dead] ... That does not mean you have to find someone who is alive to hold responsible.’’

The trial will continue on Monday with the summing up of Justice Anne Hinton.