Families: Go easy on driver
Family of the three Exclusive Brethren church members who died in a fatal crash asked police to show leniency to the driver who caused the tragedy.
Church member Russell Stewart pleaded guilty in January to causing the deaths of his 48-year-old wife Susanna, their 16-year-old daughter Sadie, and family friend James Wearmouth, 18, in the crash on June 6, 2016.
Stewart was sentenced to four months’ community detention and disqualified from driving for one year, a sentence which has upset some members of the wider Northland community.
On July 22, 2016, Grant Illingworth QC wrote to police on behalf of the Hewetson (Susanna’s family) and Wearmouth families. Illingworth explained the contact was requested by the relatives “so that you can be properly informed as to their attitude in relation to the investigation currently taking place in relation to the driver of the vehicle, Russell Stewart”.
“It is obviously a matter of great sadness for the church community that three of their members died as a result of the accident,” Illingworth wrote, in the letter obtained under the Official Information Act.
He wrote that one of the “Christian [precepts] that unites them as a community” was the principle of “forgiveness”.
The letter said the families believed at the time of the crash that Stewart was “suffering from stress as a result of certain personal circumstances he was going through at the time”.
The tragedy had “driven Russell to the brink of despair”.
“The loss that Russell has suffered as a result of the accident constitutes a punishment far beyond anything that the law could now impose upon him. He will obviously have to live with the consequences of the accident for the rest of his life.”
While stressing that the letter was not intended to put pressure on the police “in relation to the decision to prosecute”, Illingworth wrote that “both families consider that a high priority should be placed on rehabilitation”.
That included consideration that Stewart — “an upstanding member of the local community and church community” — would have to care for his youngest two children.
“A custodial sentence would also seriously compromise the efforts of Russell’s friends and family, within the church community, to get his life, and that of his remaining family ‘back on the rails’,” Illingworth wrote.
“Both families appreciate that their legal views can be taken into account only to the limited extent permitted by the due legal process that is currently being undertaken in relation to the investigation of the accident.
“Nevertheless, they respectfully request that, so far as possible, the investigators should bear in mind that the Wearmouth family and Hewetson family have forgiven Russell Stewart in accordance with their Christian beliefs.”
Illingworth added that they “did not seek revenge or retribution in any form”.
“They simply ask that the maximum allowance possible should be made for the need to rehabilitate Russell Stewart as a law-abiding and responsible member of the Northland community and of their church community.”
Stewart, aged 51, manages a family-run clothing company in Kaiwaka and employs 35 staff.
The crash happened after a group of Exclusive Brethren members had spent the day at Ripiro Beach.
There were eight passengers in the five-seater Mitsubishi Triton driven by Stewart.
He was initially charged with three charges of careless driving while under the influence of drink or a drug causing death, four of careless driving causing injury under the influence of drink or a drug, and one of failing to stop to check injury after an accident.
On the eve of his trial, the Crown decided to withdraw the charges of driving with excess breath alcohol and leaving the scene.
Stewart was convicted of three counts of careless driving causing death and four of careless driving causing bodily harm.
On the day of the crash Stewart was driving east along Baylys Coast Rd when he missed a moderate righthand corner. His overloaded ute struck a tree about 6.40pm according to the traffic crash report, which was among a raft of documents obtained under the Official Information Act.
The documents revealed Stewart had been drinking and had ignored a 65km/h advisory speed sign. The ute had no mechanical faults but its tyres were deflated.
The documents also revealed that witnesses to the crash told police a “clean-up crew” of church members tried to take control of the site of the crash — which happened after a church gathering at a nearby beach.
One witness claimed that more than 20 members of the church group swarmed over the site. A witness said they appeared to be trying to keep the events a secret.
A traffic report said Stewart “decamped from the scene of the crash almost immediately”.
He was later found outside a cafe. Information provided by police under the Official Information Act revealed he told officers: “I think that I blacked out. That’s the thing, I just don’t remember. One thing I was going along fine, the next thing there was a shower of stones. That’s it.”
When found by police a breath test recorded 298 micrograms of alcohol. The legal limit is 250mcg.
A police source told the Herald no phone calls were made to emergency services by any members of the Exclusive Brethren.
The source also revealed church members “were all prepared to give evidence in support of Russell Stewart but not against him”.
The only church member to give a statement to police was Philip Wearmouth — a relative of James’.
His statement, obtained under the Official Information Act, stated: “I came across the crash 30 seconds after it happened. Russell Stewart was driving. Russell ran off.”
Wearmouth and his wife initially agreed to be interviewed this week on the basis questions were emailed to them. They later declined saying “this was a very tragic scene that we experienced and we have [found] your questions extremely insensitive. We have been deeply affected by the private tragedy and the loss of those we know well”.
Approached for comment at his Paparoa home, Stewart told the Weekend Herald to “get off my property”. Illingworth said he was unable to comment, apart from stating “all of the people involved in that situation were part of the same church community. They care for one another and have a relationship with one another that is important to them”.