No penalty imposed by the court could punish Michael James Geoffrey Eades more than he was punishing himself for the death of his wife, cousin, and granddaughter, Christchurch District Court was told today.
The 62-year-old pleaded guilty in Christchurch District Court today to three charges of careless driving causing death, the result of falling asleep from jetlag while driving a car in Christchurch on September 16.
He crashed into a power pole on Estuary Road, South Brighton, killing his wife Sera Gonerogo Eades, 60, his cousin Valerie Susan Bryan, 68, and his three-year-old granddaughter Iva Linieta Harper.
They had just arrived in New Zealand from the UK.
Defence counsel Garth Gallaway said: "The only positive thing to come out of this is that he has seen the best of human nature since the accident. "He is very grateful to the police for the way they treated him, and the emergency services who did so much to try to save the victims."
Judge David Ongley said Eades had felt a warning that he was fatigued but had made a decision to continue driving to where the party was staying.
"The court has to recognise that making a decision to drive while feeling about to be overcome by fatigue is a decision with consequences."
He sentenced Eades to 150 hours community work and banned him from driving for a year.
Other family members who provided victim impact reports did not seek further penalties, and said they bore no animosity towards Eades for what was a tragic accident. "We have all suffered emotional harm and with each other's support, time will heal," said Mrs Bryan's husband.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Paul Brocas said the group arrived in New Zealand on September 14, after a 30-hour flight from Britain. They came to visit Eades' mother who was ill in hospital.
They visited the hospital and did sight-seeing in Christchurch, and about 6pm two days after their arrival, Eades was driving them back to where they were staying in New Brighton.
All were wearing seatbelts. Eades saw the other three were asleep in their seats. He then felt his head jerk as though he was also falling asleep but decided to continue because they were close to their destination.
Witnesses saw the vehicle veer off the road and crash head-on into a power pole soon after.
Mrs Bryan died at the scene, his granddaughter died in hospital at 9pm, and his wife died at 11.30pm.
Mr Brocas said Eades had also been injured. He was extremely traumatised and remorseful and very frank about driving and falling asleep. He believed he was rested after two nights' sleep following the long flight.
Mr Gallaway said nothing the court could do could punish Eades more than he had punished himself. His culpability was low. He had been driving slowly, not driving dangerously, and had simply succumbed to jetlag. He accepted full responsibility.
