No appeal on crash ruling
Family say fatal smash driver’s sentence a ‘slap on wrist’
The ashes of a keen fisherman killed by a drugged driver in New Plymouth during lockdown will be scattered at sea this weekend.
The memorial will serve as a form of closure for the family of Craig Stills after they learned there would be no appeal of the nine months’ home detention imposed on the driver last month.
Taranaki Crown Solicitor Cherie Clarke said the matter of the sentence given to Tai MasseyHunter had been forwarded to Crown Law for consideration of a Crown appeal.
‘‘However, the Solicitor General has decided not to pursue an appeal,’’ she said.
Paul Stills, Craig’s brother, said Massey-Hunter had got away with a mere ‘‘slap on the wrist’’.
Justice had not been served and there was nothing the family could do about that, he said.
‘‘I just think it’s bulls. . ., to put it bluntly. We were hoping something else would happen,’’ he said.
‘‘He gets to go home and to see his family, but my mum doesn’t get to see her son.
‘‘He took my brother, my best friend, my fishing buddy.’’
Stills, 54, who was an essential worker, died in hospital after Massey-Hunter’s car smashed into his vehicle at the intersection of Corbett and Connett roads, Bell Block, about 7pm on May 1 last year, while the country was at Covid-19 alert level 3.
Massey-Hunter, 32, had methamphetamine and cannabis in his system when he drove through a give-way sign at up to 28 kilometres an hour above the 70kmh speed limit.
He was sentenced in the New Plymouth District Court on March 9 on a charge of driving under the influence of a drug causing death, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment.
Judge Philip Recordon believed Massey-Hunter’s life could be irreparably damaged by a long prison sentence and the principles of denunciation and deterrence could be served by a lengthy term of home detention.
Following the sentencing outcome, Paul Stills called for a change in the legal system.
‘‘Someone higher up needs to do something about it. And to the justice system in New Zealand. There’s something needs to be done. Quickly,’’ he previously told the Daily News.
‘‘There’s a lot of other people, a lot of other offenders, going to get away with virtually murder. Give you a slap on the wrist and tell you to go home, don’t do it again.’’
Now, after the Solicitor General’s decision, he said: ‘‘We’ve just got to accept it.’’
Going forward the family would focus on healing, he said.
‘‘We just want to forget about him [Massey-Hunter]. We just want to get on with our lives.’’
As part of that process, the family plan to scatter Craig’s ashes this Sunday at the spot where his boat sank on the same date two years earlier.
Craig and his son, Alex, had been marlin fishing about 15 kilometres out from Port Taranaki when the boat’s bilge pump failed.
‘‘They got saved and they tried to tow the boat back in, but the rope snapped and it went down,’’ Paul said.