\u2018Life isn\u2019t the same\u2019<\/p>\n
Six of Chase\u2019s close relatives had their victim impact statements read to the Hamilton District Court, including that of his 13-year-old daughter.<\/p>\n
She said losing her dad was the \u201chardest thing I have ever had to go through\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy dad was always there for me,\u201d she said at Hills\u2019 sentencing yesterday. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe came to my sports games, supported my schooling, and never missed birthdays.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was the kind of dad who showed up no matter what.<\/p>\n
\u201cLife does not feel the same anymore. Sometimes, I still expect to see him or hear his voice.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will always carry him in my heart, but it\u2019s not the same as having him here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Slurring his words<\/p>\n
The court heard that around 4.30pm on May 7 last year, Hills was driving his Subaru west on Norton Rd, in Hamilton, after leaving the pub.<\/p>\n
At the same time, Chase was speeding east on his Yamaha and pulling a \u201cwheelstand\u201d, or a wheelie.<\/p>\n
He\u2019d just dropped back down to two wheels before he reached the intersection with Maeroa Rd.<\/p>\n
Hills, 63, had by then pulled into the turning bay to turn right into Maeroa Rd.<\/p>\n
Traffic was heavy, and as he turned, Hills incorrectly judged the gap and turned directly into the path of Chase, who was travelling at between 80km\/h and 90km\/h.<\/p>\n
Chase was thrown from his bike.<\/p>\n
Members of the public and a nearby police unit performed CPR and a defibrillation attempt, but he never regained consciousness and died at the scene.<\/p>\n
The sentencing took place at Hamilton District Court. <\/p>\n
Hills, meanwhile, had turned into the Gull service station and spoke to police who could smell alcohol on his breath, and noted he was slurring his words.<\/p>\n
He returned an excess breath alcohol level of 577mcg. The legal breath alcohol limit for driving is 250mcg.<\/p>\n
A serious crash unit investigation found contributing factors of the crash were Hills\u2019 alcohol level, Chase\u2019s headlight being pointed in the air while doing the wheelstand, and his speed.<\/p>\n
Determining culpability <\/p>\n
Defence lawyer Glen Prentice asked the judge to look at the circumstances of the crash \u201cas a whole\u201d when determining his client\u2019s culpability.<\/p>\n
Effectively, he asked the judge to weigh up his client\u2019s \u201cpoor decision making\u201d with Chase\u2019s speeding and wheelstand.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s my submission that we will never know what role the defendant\u2019s alcohol actually had in this crash.<\/p>\n
\u201cCould this crash have occurred but for his alcohol?<\/p>\n
\u201cSpeed was a factor in this crash,\u201d and due to that, it was unknown \u201chow easily he would have been able to be seen\u201d, he submitted.<\/p>\n
Prentice said on the day of the crash, Hills had a \u201cbusy day selling items\u201d before going to the pub where he had \u201cabout three drinks\u201d.<\/p>\n
Hills\u2019 two previous drink driving convictions, from 1991 and 1992, were irrelevant, he said, as they happened more than 30 years ago.<\/p>\n
He was remorseful and also had $10,000 to pay in emotional harm reparation.<\/p>\n
\u2018They\u2019re in court to eyeball you\u2019<\/p>\n
Judge Matenga told Hills that Chase\u2019s wh\u0101nau and friends were in court today to \u201ceyeball you\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is part of the process.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have expressed their anger and frustration at you, but also their deeply felt loss.\u201d<\/p>\n
The judge accepted that Hills\u2019 breath alcohol level was moderate, and not an aggravating feature of the crash.<\/p>\n
Hills was also waiting in a turning bay to turn right.<\/p>\n
Richard Chase can be seen braking moments before impact with Ronald Hills’ car at the intersection of Norton Rd and Maeroa Rd, Hamilton, in May last year. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of these actions are expected of any driver. I do not see these as being aggravated driving at all.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, the evidence did show that he failed to keep a proper lookout and give way, which involved a \u201cmomentary lapse of judgment\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt a time when that judgment was affected by the amount of alcohol you had consumed.\u201d<\/p>\n
The fact that Chase had just completed a wheelstand, moving his light up, and speeding were also factors.<\/p>\n
\u201cDrivers would not be expecting vehicles travelling much quicker than [50km\/h],\u201d the judge said.<\/p>\n
As for Hills\u2019 previous convictions, he agreed they were not relevant.<\/p>\n
However, Hills had received several speeding tickets in the past, which was an indication of his poor judgment, the judge said.<\/p>\n
Judge Matenga took a starting point of two years and nine months\u2019 imprisonment, before allowing 30% in discounts, reducing the sentence to 23 months.<\/p>\n
He commuted that to 11 months and two weeks\u2019 home detention.<\/p>\n
Hills was also disqualified from driving for 30 months and ordered to pay the $10,000 reparation immediately.<\/p>\n
Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for 11 years and has been a journalist for 22.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u2018Life isn\u2019t the same\u2019 Six of Chase\u2019s close relatives had their victim impact statements read to the Hamilton…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":360966,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[9218,15979,17247,33445,1351,6288,692,21520,78,296,33260,111,43,139,69,22769,25260,1529],"class_list":{"0":"post-360965","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-before","9":"tag-crashed","10":"tag-drinks","11":"tag-fatally","12":"tag-had","13":"tag-hamilton","14":"tag-he","15":"tag-hills","16":"tag-in","17":"tag-into","18":"tag-motorcyclist","19":"tag-new-zealand","20":"tag-news","21":"tag-newzealand","22":"tag-nz","23":"tag-ronald","24":"tag-speeding","25":"tag-three"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=360965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/360966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}