Tragically, it was he that had unintentionally killed Julia Rose Florence after attempting to perform doughnuts in a farm vehicle which then tipped and crushed her.
But now the parents of Florence have begged a court to take mercy on Tom Munro Nicholls, the 22-year-old responsible for the death of their 21-year-old daughter.
Rosie Florence told Hāwera District Court on Monday that Nicholls had the “love and forgiveness” of her family.
“We know that because Tom loves us, and he loved Julia, he lives his sentence every day,” she said.
The sentencing hearing of Nicholls, charged with dangerous driving causing death and dangerous driving causing injury, centred on the December 14 farm crash in Cardiff, Taranaki, last year.
Julia died at the scene and an 18-year-old woman suffered a broken arm, bruising and whiplash.
The court heard the victims worked with Nicholls on a shearing gang and that he and Julia were also close family friends.
On the day of the crash, it was raining heavily and so the crew finished work around 2pm.
Plans were made to meet at a colleague’s house for drinks and on the way there Nicholls bought two dozen beer and vodka premixes.
Around 8.30pm, the group decided to go for a drive around the farm.
Nicholls got behind the wheel of the 4x4 and Julia, the other victim and another woman climbed in as passengers.
Two other men shared a quad bike and drove ahead of Nicholls and the women with a plan to give them a tour of the farm.
But shortly after, Nicholls began driving in circles in an attempt to perform a doughnut.
The surviving victim said everyone in the farm vehicle was laughing.
The other passenger’s recollection differed, with her telling police that after attempts at performing the doughnuts, Nicholls drove up a hill and then back down before turning sharply, which caused the vehicle to tip.
Ultimately, Julia was crushed underneath it and the teen was trapped.
After working to free the women, CPR efforts began on Julia and emergency services were called.
But by the time paramedics arrived, she had died from a head injury. Nicholls was found sitting with her, upset and holding her hand.
When police arrived, an officer noticed he had slurred speech and smelt of alcohol. Nicholls declined to undergo an alcohol breath test and said he had consumed four to six beers.
He said he had not been driving fast and the vehicle had flipped as he attempted a turn. Nicholls also said he tried to do a skid but couldn’t, so he watched while others performed them in the paddock.
But that was at odds with police findings, which said there was no evidence the quad bike had been used for skids.
A police serious crash unit examined the scene and found evidence of circular tracks left by Nicholls attempting to do doughnuts.
In Rosie’s victim impact statement, she told the court her daughter was a volunteer firefighter whose life was full of “love, blessings, adventure and service”.
“She leaves a big hole in our family. This space is palpable, like a vacuum.”
Rosie said Nicholls had taken full responsibility for Julia’s death from the beginning and that he wore it with “shame, anguish and quiet dignity”.
The irony, Rosie said, was that Nicholls spent his time at university with Julia, protecting her from all real and imaginary threats - “like a brother”.
“Only to be responsible for her death. This is something that he will live with forever.”
Defence lawyer Kylie Pascoe made an application to have Nicholls discharged without conviction on the two admitted charges.
She said it was not made lightly and with the full support of Julia’s family.
Nicholls was not seeking to minimise the enormity of his actions, Pascoe said, but rather the application was the appropriate step to take in the case.
She submitted the driving was not “persistent and deliberate”, as described by the Crown, but rather it happened over a very short period of time.
Pascoe added it took place in a paddock and not on a road, reducing Nicholls’ level of culpability.
She argued the offending was low to midrange while the mitigating factors were significant.
Included in those factor were Nicholls' youth, his previously unblemished driving record and lack of criminal offending, as well as his high level of remorse.
A conviction would impact his hope to join the New Zealand Defence Force, and employment generally, Pascoe submitted.
Crown prosecutor Justin Marinovich said there were always consequences when a conviction was entered against young offenders.
But in this case, the consequences of a conviction did not outweigh the gravity of the offending, he argued in opposition to defence’s application.
He maintained the driving was deliberate and persistent and pointed to the findings of the serious crash unit to support his submissions.
Marinovich said the passengers were unrestrained and vulnerable to Nicholls’ decisions, which were “no doubt” impacted by his alcohol consumption in the lead-up to the crash.
The vehicle had listed on it a number of safety warnings, including not to perform doughnuts, but all were ignored.
“Their safety was his responsibility,” Marinovich said.
After considering the submissions, Judge Gregory Hikaka agreed with the Crown in that it was high-level offending.
While Nicholls’ remorse - and other mitigating factors - were accepted by the judge, he said the case needed to focus on denunciation and deterrence.
“Particularly of others, not of you because you’re not going to go down this track again, I’m confident of that,” he said.
“But there needs to be a mark to say ‘this is not good enough’.”
Judge Hikaka declined the application to discharge Nicholls without conviction and instead sentenced him to three months of community detention and disqualified him from driving for 12 months.
“It’s just a matter of dealing with this and moving forward. And it’s encouraging to know that the families of the victims are supportive of you.”
- By Tara Shaskey, Open Justice multimedia journalist, Taranaki
