R v Tranter

• Jurisdiction: New Zealand
• Judge: Wylie J
• Judgment Date: 01 May 2020
• Neutral Citation: [2020] NZHC 884
• Court: High Court
• Docket Number: CRI-2018-009-004865
• Date: 01 May 2020

The Queen

and

Richard Robert Tranter

[2020] NZHC 884

Wylie J

CRI-2018-009-004865

IN THE HIGH COURT OF NEW ZEALAND

CHRISTCHURCH REGISTRY

I TE KŌTI MATUA O AOTEAROA

ŌTAUTAHI ROHE

Criminal Sentence — sentence for manslaughter — guilty plea entered for a charge of driving with excess blood alcohol — number of aggravating factors — no tariff case for manslaughter — Sentencing Act 2002

Appearances:

C J Boshier for the Crown

A J D Bamford and E Riddell for the Defendant

SENTENCING NOTES OF Wylie J

Introduction

1 Mr Tranter, you appear for sentence today after you were found guilty following a trial by jury of manslaughter and after you pleaded guilty to a charge of driving with excess blood alcohol. The maximum sentence for manslaughter is life imprisonment; for a first or second offence of driving with excess blood alcohol the maximum penalty is three months imprisonment or a fine not exceeding $4,500.00. In addition, I must order that you be disqualified from driving.

2 Unfortunately, your sentencing has been delayed because of the COVID-19 crisis. You are being sentenced by video link — that is not ideal, but it has resulted in the sentencing being able to proceed today.

Relevant facts

3 At approximately 10:30 pm on Tuesday the 2nd of January 2018, you were the driver of a BMW motor vehicle travelling south on Russley Road, Christchurch.

4 The section of Russley Road that you were travelling on is designated as part of State Highway 1. It is in good condition and it has four lanes — two going in each direction. They are divided by a raised centre barrier. The posted speed limit is 80 kph, dropping to 60 kph where the road enters a residential area close to where it intersects with Yaldhurst Road. The weather was cool but fine and the lighting was good.

5 Your car should not have been on the road at all. It was unregistered and unwarranted. The rear tyres were a mismatch. Further they were directional tyres and they had been wrongly fitted, with the result that the tread on each was going in the wrong direction. The rear brake pads were worn and there was a warning light on your dashboard showing this at the relevant time.

6 You should not have been driving. You had been drinking alcohol. Analysis of your blood showed that you had 112 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood. This was well above the legal limit — it is 50 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood for an infringement notice and 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood for an offence.

7 The evidence at your trial suggested that you were not wearing a seat belt at the time. Further you must have chosen to ignore the brake warning light showing on your dashboard. You had deactivated two of the vehicle's safety systems — namely the ABS brakes and the dynamic stability control system. Again, there were warning lights on your dashboard showing that these systems had been disabled.

8 Before you turned into Russley Road, you went around the Russley Road/Harewood Road roundabout three and a half times. You then accelerated down Russley Road in a southerly direction.

9 You reached a speed of somewhere between 178 and 186 kph. You were aware of this at the time. You were videoing your driving with your cellphone as you sped down Russley Road. You recorded your own commentary on this footage. You said that you were doing 180 kph.

10 You undertook two vehicles that were also heading south. They were both travelling in the outside or left lane but you flew past them and cut in on them by driving on the outside shoulder of the road. The cellphone footage made for chilling viewing. It was clear from your commentary that you had absolutely no regard for the safety of other road users — you said on the footage:

… should we play some games, let's go around these [I interpolate — other road users], wooo … yes. I'm having a good night. I don't give a fuck in the world. How about that y'all. I think I'm doing 180, I'm not quite sure. It's alright, we'll still pass people. Not a care in the world. I don't give a fuck, why don't just take the left-hand side, already, three, two, one, wooo. Fuck you. Not a care in the fucking world. Nothing left to worry about nigger.

You were deliberately courting the obvious risks associated with your grossly irresponsible driving.

11 As noted, the posted speed limit on Russley Road drops to 60 kph when it enters a residential area near the intersection with Yaldhurst Road. You did not slow down. Indeed, you continued filming your driving for another eight seconds after passing the 60 kph sign.

12 The victim — Jack Munro — was driving in a westerly direction along Bentley Street in the residential area. He turned left at a give-way sign into the left-hand lane of Russley Road and started to proceed down Russley Road in a southerly direction. You were approaching at approximately 180 kph. When you stopped filming your driving — probably after dropping your cellphone — you were only about 90 to 100 metres from the Bentley Street intersection. You hadn't slowed down appreciably. It was simply too late for you to do anything to avoid the inevitable collision. The evidence suggested that at best your reaction time would have been about 1.5 seconds and, at 180 kph, a collision could not be avoided. There was no evidence to suggest that you tried to brake, although it appears that you may have attempted to turn a little to the right in an endeavour to avoid Mr Munro's car. You collided with the rear of Mr Munro's car, causing it to collide with another car that was parked on the side of Russley Road. Your vehicle spun out of control, before finally coming to a halt some distance further south on Russley Road.

13 Mr Munro suffered significant injuries. He was extracted from his car and taken to hospital. He died of his injuries the following day.

14 You were spoken to by the Police a few days later. You lied in the course of your interview, claiming that you had reduced your speed when you entered the 60 kph posted area and that you were doing about 70 kph at the time, that Mr Munro just turned out in front of you, that you braked but that you were unable to avoid the collision, that you hadn't had too much to drink on the night, and that you hadn't used your cellphone on the night. Indeed, you claimed that you had a new cellphone. All of these lies were told in a clear attempt to minimise your culpability.

The reports

15 I have received various reports in relation to you.

16 First, I have received a Provision of Advice to Courts report. It records that:

The report writer identified your offending-supportive attitudes, your alcohol use and your relationship difficulties as contributing to your offending. The writer found it difficult to gauge your remorse, noting that you attempted to justify your behaviour and that you displayed minimal emotion when discussing what had occurred. It was suggested that this may have been because you did not want to discuss your feelings. You apparently wished to end your own life after the offending and both your former and current partners say that the impact of the offending on you has been significant. You did claim that you would have liked to engage in a restorative justice conference but that was taken no further.

• (a) You are a 28-year-old Pākehā. You are from Christchurch and at the time of the offending you were living with an ex-partner. You have one biological child and two step-children. You report that you have the support of your father but that you don't see “eye to eye” with him when you are in prison and that you have not had recent contact with him.

• (b) You left school at the age of 15 years and you have generally been in employment when you have not been in custody.

• (c) You have a significant criminal record. You have amassed in total some 43 convictions over the period 2008 to 2020. Your offending includes driving related offending, drug related offending, the possession of weapons, breaches of bail, receiving, breach of community work orders, intentional damage, contravening protection orders, being unlawfully in an enclosed yard and breach of post detention conditions. You have been sentenced to imprisonment on a number of occasions — most recently before the present offending on 18 October 2019 for a month. The longest period of imprisonment to which you have previously been sentenced was seven months.

• (d) You have a history of drug abuse and you have major problems with alcohol dependency. You report typically drinking an 18 pack of bourbon every evening over the last year or two, although you claim that you always feel sober even though you know you could not be. You also claim that you were on medication for depression at the time.

17 Secondly, I have received an Alcohol and Other Drugs Assessment report. It is limited, because the author was only able to assess you by telephone. The author records:

• (a) You tried alcohol in your mid-teens, and that you have since become alcohol dependent. You used alcohol weekly, usually at the weekends. During periods of unemployment, you were drinking daily. Your use of alcohol became heavy following the break up of a long-term relationship. You were consuming up to 20 plus standard drinks a day. You told the report writer that you tried to reduce your dependency on alcohol, but you have been unable to do so.

• (b) You first tried methamphetamine in 2016/2017, after the break-up of one of your relationships. You smoked methamphetamine daily, and often used half a gram. You told the assessor that you do not want to stop using the drug and that you had never tried to do so.

• (c) At the time of your offending, you had been using alcohol and methamphetamine, because you had found out that your partner was cheating on you. You said that you were on your way to see a friend when the accident occurred.

• (d) Your mental health...