Company which owned ‘ worn out’ rubbish trucks fined over teen’s death
The family of a teenage rubbish worker fatally crushed by a faulty truck say her death has left them with a huge void.
Jane Lee Devonshire, 19, died on Hebe Place, Birkenhead when she was crushed as the rubbish truck she was working on crashed.
In court a judge said vehicles in the fleet were worn out and unsafe for rubbish collection. The firm which owned the truck was fined more than $ 100,000 after the vehicle’s brakes failed and it went over an Auckland cliff in August 2015, killing Devonshire.
as a She runnerwas on on her the fifth Sterlingweek at truck, work operated by Onyx Group Limited. Investigations found that the brakes failed, causing the truck to roll off the road.
Truck Leasing Ltd ( TLL), which owned the vehicle, was charged with failing to ensure the truck was safe for its intended use.
The company entered a not guilty plea, further arguing the driver was to a certain degree culpable.
The case went to trial in the Auckland District Court, but Judge Robert Ronayne found the company guilty.
Judge Ronayne sentenced TLL yesterday and fined it $ 110,000. He also ordered it to pay around $ 36,000 in reparation to the Devonshire family and $ 11,000 in emotional harm to the driver.
The court heard that TLL was responsible for the upkeep of its vehicle fleet, and had previously been involved in two other crashes — one fatal.
Services on TLL’s fleet had been missed while the company was aware of faulty brakes on its vehicles, Judge Ronayne concluded. He said the Sterling trucks in TLL’s fleet were “obviously worn out”, adding the company was aware of this.
A warning light in the crashed truck had also been removed from the dashboard, the court heard.
Judge Ronayne said the experienced driver, who had expressed his concerns about the truck’s unfit state but was ignored, did all he could to avoid the crash. “Nothing the driver did could have averted tragedy,” the judge said.
TLL argued that its culpability shouldn’t be viewed as the same as Onyx Group Limited or its maintenance company, N P Dobbe ( NPD), which it described as the “lead offenders”.
Both companies were also charged and fined in relation to the crash.
Devonshire’s devastated family earlier told the Herald that the accident should never have happened.
Her father, Philip Devonshire, said his daughter was a fun- loving, outgoing person. The court heard that Devonshire’s death has left a gaping void in their lives.