Wife of tourist killed by bus driver recounts horror
WHEN Kate Jurow received a phone call from her husband to tell her he’d been hit by a bus, couldn’t breathe and was scared, she collapsed on the footpath.
Richard Philip Hyde (73), of the United States, died a short time later in a helicopter on the way to hospital.
The 63yearold female driver of the 3.8tonne Southern Discoveries bus, which reversed into Mr Hyde at Mt Nicholas Station on April 15, 2016, was later charged with carelessly operating a vehicle causing his death, something she initially denied.
Partway through a trial in Queenstown in July she changed her plea and sought a discharge without conviction and a special reasons finding for either no disqualification, or a disqualification period of less than the sixmonth minimum.
Judge Alistair Garland denied both yesterday, but due to time constraints was unable to verbally give his reasons. He did grant an application for final name suppression.
Ms Jurow appeared via audiovisual link yesterday in the Queenstown District Court from her home in the United States to read an emotional victim impact statement ahead of the sentencing.
She was in tears as she tried to articulate how she had been impacted by the death of her husband and best friend of 42 years.
The couple, from Somerville, Massachusetts, were in New Zealand on a ‘‘dream holiday’’, but now the country was ‘‘a place of horror and death’’ for her, Ms Jurow said.
Mr Hyde, a stamp collector, went by himself to Mt Nicholas Station that day to see a mountain depicted on one of his stamps.
‘‘He phoned me [and said] ‘I’ve been run over by a bus, I can’t breathe, I’m frightened, I can’t breathe’.
‘‘When I heard that, I collapsed on to the sidewalk, literally.
‘‘I didn’t know what to do, how to get him help.
‘‘He was dying alone, without me, and I couldn’t do anything for him.’’
She said they were entering the most rewarding stage of their lives — she was about to graduate after six years of study, they had future travel plans, Mr Hyde was writing a book and also intended to do further study ‘‘just for fun’’.
‘‘We used to walk hand in hand everywhere together.
‘‘I still think I feel his hand in mine sometimes, but I know he isn’t there.’’
She began suffering ‘‘hysteria’’ daily and had since been diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder.
Ms Jurow said she had also been infuriated by the ‘‘apparent lack of understanding that a human being has died here’’.
‘‘For me, and maybe for him, it seems that he died for nothing.
‘‘Talk about impact — that will haunt me for the rest of my life.’’
Defence counsel Nic Soper said his client would also be haunted for the rest of her life.
‘‘She could not be more sorry for any deficiencies on her part that resulted in that tragic outcome.
‘‘She could not be more sorry for Ms Jurow . . . However, no matter how sorry the defendant is and no matter the degree of remorse, it can’t bring Mr Hyde back.
‘‘It’s fair to say Mr Hyde’s death will hang like an albatross around [the defendant’s] neck for the rest of her life, a constant and immovable burden.’’
The defendant, also in tears yesterday, had no previous convictions and was unlikely to ever reoffend.
She, too, had been diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder and was receiving ongoing treatment for other mental health issues caused by the incident.
Her employment was terminated in September and she had limited financial means.
‘‘It [the incident] will never leave her.
‘‘It is a life sentence in itself.’’ Judge Garland convicted the woman and sentenced her to 150 hours’ community work.
She was also disqualified from driving for six months.