A judge has cleared two Gore men of having an illegal road race after calling the police investigation into the incident “sloppy”.
Judge Duncan Harvey dismissed charges of operating a vehicle in a race, against Michael Williams, 49, and Timothy Fairclough, 42, after a judge-alone trial in the Gore District Court on Thursday.
The Crown case featured the evidence of three farm workers who saw the defendants driving a Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore in Pomahaka Rd, near Tapanui, on September 28, 2021.
Kya Shaw said she heard "loud acceleration" coming from the road, then looked up to see the cars "side by side, racing", with the former passing the latter.
Moments after they disappeared behind a hedge, she heard two loud bangs.
Driving to the scene, she saw the "mangled" Commodore and a man lying injured on the ground, then realised her boss’ vehicle had been struck by the damaged car.
The other man at the scene told her "my mate’s f...ed, he’s dead".
Her employer, Ryan Songhurst, told the court he was slowing down and indicating to turn into his driveway when he saw the Commodore in his rear view mirror.
It hit his vehicle "about a second later" before spinning off the road.
The Falcon went past him "at speed" as his vehicle veered across his driveway and into a tree.
Given the force of its impact on his vehicle, the Commodore’s speed must have been "grossly excessive", he said.
An associate of the defendants, Sasha Wright, said she was a passenger in the Falcon, with Williams at the wheel.
They were "just driving along" behind the Commodore when she looked up from her phone and saw it had crashed.
Neither car had been speeding, she said.
Crown prosecutor Mary-Jane Thomas said the defendants had been driving "really fast, side-by-side".
Fairclough’s counsel Scott Williamson said the Crown’s witnesses saw the vehicles for only a few seconds, and the evidence did not establish a race had occurred.
Judge Harvey said the police investigation report struck him as "sloppy", not even containing close-up photos of the damaged vehicles.
He was impressed by Ms Shaw’s evidence, but disregarded the evidence of Ms Wright, who was in the difficult position of not wanting to incriminate either defendant.
Although both defendants’ driving was reckless, he dismissed the charges on the grounds there was insufficient evidence to establish a race had occurred.
— Guy Williams, PIJF court reporter
