Man jailed for fatal crash after he filled petrol tank and bolted
A woman who used her daughter’s death in a car crash as an example to help rehabilitate prisoners in jail was killed by a driver who had 14 pages of criminal convictions.
Donna Hillary Blake died on June 19 last year in a two-car crash on State Highway 1, south of Whanga¯rei, when Randall Kevin Wilson drove off from Oakleigh Caltex without paying for $108.35 worth of petrol.
Wilson, a tattooist from Hikurangi, was jailed for three years and two months when he appeared for sentence in the Whanga¯rei District Court yesterday after pleading guilty to a charge of dangerous driving causing death.
He was convicted and discharged on a charge of stealing petrol and possession of a cannabis pipe, also on June 19.
After sentencing, family of 54-year-old Donna Blake expressed concern that a man with such a record was even allowed to drive.
Her uncle, Hone Sadler, said Blake had worked in Springfield, Tongariro and Waikeria prisons and had used the death of her adopted daughter, Katie, 10 years ago, as an example of what tragic consequences could result from criminal offending.
“He shouldn’t have been out on the streets . . . We are the ones that copped it. The amount of time didn’t fit the crime because of his recidivist offending,” Sadler said.
Blake had also worked at Community Probation in Kaikohe, during which time she planted vegetables in street planter boxes for locals to take.
She had moved north to take care of her ageing father but had taken a job in Huntly just before her death. She was killed on a trip north to visit him and family.
Rebecca Wharemate said Blake would be remembered for her honesty, straight talking and ability to “call a spade a spade and never a shovel”.
“She also had that special magic and empathy,” Wharemate said.
She was creative, turning unwanted items into artworks.
Judge Deidre Orchard acknowledged the whanau and said after reading a victim-impact statement from family member Dawn Karena it was obvious how much Blake was loved.
Throughout sentencing, Wilson stood between two police security officers with his head bowed, and cried most of the time.
It was revealed he had 14 pages of criminal history, which started when he was aged 17, and included five convictions for driving with excess breath alcohol, 10 for driving while disqualified and more for driving while disqualified as well as cannabis and methamphetamine convictions.
It continued with dishonesty convictions relating to taking motor vehicles and theft from vehicles.
“It is obvious to any one reading your convictions you have been working in a criminal lifestyle since youth,” Judge Orchard said.
The result in this instance had been “catastrophic”. The court heard he covered the vehicle’s number plates and sped off after filling up with petrol.
Wilson made a sharp turn, then he slammed into Blake’s vehicle. The crash flipped her car and she died at the scene.
Wilson was also disqualified from driving for four years, to start on his release from prison.