Lifetime rehab sentence for victim of gorge crash

A man who drove drunk into concrete barriers blocking the Manawatu¯ Gorge highway has left his passenger with a lifetime sentence of rehabilitation.

Carl Raymond Trower, 24, received his own sentence when he appeared in the Nelson District Court yesterday on a charge of dangerous driving.

Trower had pleaded guilty to the charge at a previous appearance last November, along with guilty pleas to charges of breaching bail and release conditions.

The crash took place on July 17 last year at the Ashhurst end of the Manawatu¯ Gorge highway, which has been closed since April 2017 due to slips. Large concrete barriers had been put across the road to stop traffic, along with speed bumps, and signs are still in place.

Trower was driving with his passenger Milton Reriti in a Mercedes when, at 6.30am, he went past the signs saying the road was closed.

Accelerating above 100kmh, he hit a concrete barrier, causing the car to flip and land on the driver’s side door, trapping Trower and Reriti inside. The jaws of life were needed to get them out before they were taken to hospital.

Trower had methamphetamine and THC, the main psychoactive compound in cannabis, in his system.

Reriti was flown to wellington Hospital in a critical condition, then to Christchurch for treatment for a traumatic brain injury.

He was in a coma for weeks, needed part of his skull removed, and suffered a fractured vertebra, leaving him needing a tilt wheelchair to move. He now faces a lifetime of rehabilitation, and may never become fully independent again.

Judge David Ruth said that in Reriti’s victim impact statement, Reriti said he had been seeing a speech therapist to learn to talk again, required an occupational therapist to help him eat and dress himself, and was also susceptible to seizures.

Defence lawyer Lucy Patchett said Trower was remorseful for his actions and had made a poor decision to drive on that occasion. She proposed an eight-month prison sentence and disqualification from driving for one year.

In a letter to the judge, Trower said he just wanted to do his time and get back out to sea.

Judge Ruth said that while he took Trower’s remorse into account, he expressed some scepticism about how genuine he was. While Trower acknowledged that he had a methamphetamine habit, he said he was only an occasional user and did not see it as a major problem – which Judge Ruth said ‘‘had led to the tragic accident in the first place’’.

In an interview with Stuff after the crash, Trower said he had been plagued with guilt about what he had done, and now encouraged sober driving so his friends would not make the same mistake.

Judge Ruth sentenced Trower to 13 months in prison on the dangerous driving charge, and disqualified him from driving for 18 months.