Home detention after ‘gross negligence’ in overdose death

• Published date: 17 October 2023
• Publication title: Otago Daily Times (New Zealand)

Carl Frederick Longshaw, 67, was sentenced to home detention in the High Court at Dunedin yesterday, five years to the day since the death of 40-year-old Polly Anna Arabella Ruth Riddell

She overdosed on a variety of substances at the defendant’s Brighton home but he did not call emergency services for an hour.

The victim’s mother, retired district court judge Rosemary Riddell said the outcome of the sentencing was as predictable as it was disappointing.

‘‘It was the law that was imposed. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it was justice,’’ she said. ‘‘Justice for a life, seven and a-half months’ home detention?

‘‘I don’t think so.’’

Rosemary Riddell described her daughter as ‘‘a shy child who grew into an adult alternatively introverted and ferocious’’.

After years waiting for answers, she still found...