Ricardo Dos Santos Silva, 29, was driving between Arrow Junction and Lake Hayes about 7.20am on August 20, when he reached for a water bottle on the passenger seat. His van drifted into the opposite lane and collided head on with a ute containing a man and a woman.
The male passenger, who had to be cut from the vehicle, suffered a traumatic brain injury and fractures to his skull, spine, ribs, one leg and arm, and internal organ damage.
The female driver also underwent emergency surgery in Dunedin after suffering a serious eye injury and fractures to an eye socket and arm.
Dos Santos Silva, a Portuguese national living in Arrowtown, was sentenced in the Queenstown District Court yesterday on two charges of careless driving causing injury.
A statement by the male victim’s mother, read to the court by a supporter, said her previously active son was now dealing with cognitive issues, chronic fatigue and having to learn to walk again.
"It breaks my heart watching him struggle."
Because another of her children already needed full-time care for a traumatic brain injury, she was suffering emotional and physical exhaustion from the additional stress and financial strain the accident had caused.
"Now I try to figure out what life will look like moving forward."
However, she felt no anger towards the defendant.
Community magistrate Sally O’Brien said the female victim would need ongoing surgery on her eye, and would have to wait two years before knowing if she would recover its sight.
She also faced the prospect of having to give up her job, despite being only months from completing her trade apprenticeship.
Counsel Bryony Shackell said Dos Santos Silva was dealing with his own physical and mental trauma.
He had completed a defensive driving course, written a "very personal, heartfelt" letter to the court expressing his remorse and made a donation to charity.
The defendant had been willing to have a restorative justice meeting with the victims, Ms Shackell said.
He had suffered a fractured kneecap, and was having therapy with a psychologist.
In terms of the court’s sentence teaching him a lesson, "there is no lesson left for him to learn".
He planned to leave New Zealand when his work visa expired early next month.
Ms O’Brien said Dos Santos Silva’s remorse was clear from his actions since the accident.
"You simply reached over, and that small action has changed forever the lives — not only of the two victims — but of the victims’ families as well."
She read from his letter to the court, in which he wrote: "I understand no words can undo the damage caused."
Going to help the occupants of the other car and finding them in "great pain and distress" was the hardest moment of his life.
Ms O’Brien entered the convictions, disqualified him from driving for 10 months and ordered him to pay $30,000 reparation to the male victim and $15,000 to the female victim.
