{"id":378803,"date":"2026-04-14T10:33:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T10:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/378803\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T10:33:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T10:33:10","slug":"driver-who-killed-pedestrian-in-hamilton-collision-saw-gp-days-earlier-worried-about-having-a-seizure-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/378803\/","title":{"rendered":"Driver who killed pedestrian in Hamilton collision saw GP days earlier, worried about having a seizure"},"content":{"rendered":"

First published on \"NZ<\/a><\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\nThe man’s car pictured in the driveway of a Whatawhata Road property in Hamilton after he crashed into a ute, a pedestrian and then the property’s iron gates.
\nPhoto: Open Justice \/ Belinda Feek\n<\/p>\n

A man who careered straight through an intersection, fatally striking a pedestrian and crashing into multiple vehicles, had seen a doctor days before the incident, concerned he might have a seizure.<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old, who had a history of suffering seizure-type events, told police after the collision that he “must have blacked out”.<\/p>\n

The driver, whose name is suppressed, had been to see Dr David Dewes, revealing he had not been sleeping and was worried he was going to have a seizure.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Dewes gave evidence in the Hamilton District Court on day two of the man’s trial before Judge Arthur Tompkins.<\/p>\n

The man is defending charges of dangerous driving causing the death of Adrian Michael Bell, and injuring motorist Jeffrey Dawson, in the collision on 26 April, 2021.<\/p>\n

The accused went straight through the intersection of Poaka Avenue and Whatawhata Road in Hamilton, before crashing into Dawson’s ute.<\/p>\n

He then smashed through a road sign and into Bell, before shunting him through the iron gates of a property.<\/p>\n

The driver then crashed into the back of two parked cars, which were then pushed into a house, causing damage.<\/p>\n

Bell died at the scene.<\/p>\n

\"Police<\/p>\n

\nPolice inspect the scene at the intersection of Poaka Ave and Whatawhata Rd.
\nPhoto: Open Justice \/ Belinda Feek\n<\/p>\n

While the defendant admits causing the crash and Bell’s death, he is defending the charges on the basis that his driving didn’t fall below the standard of a prudent driver and didn’t create an objectively dangerous situation.<\/p>\n

While there are 22 witness statements, only 10 witnesses would be called at the judge-alone trial.<\/p>\n

A ‘psychiatric’ seizure<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, now retired GP Dewes told the court that at the appointment on 23 April, 2021, the defendant was “worried about maybe having a seizure because he hadn’t slept well and had a recent history of a hospital admission for seizures”.<\/p>\n

Asked by Crown prosecutor Russell Boot about the appointment’s outcome, Dewes said he prescribed the man medication for rhinitis, as he was having trouble breathing through his mouth and nose.<\/p>\n

Boot pressed him about the defendant’s concerns about having a seizure, and Dewes stated that information was gathered by a nurse during the triage process about 30 minutes beforehand.<\/p>\n

“We discussed seizures in our consultation,” he said.<\/p>\n

Dewes said they also discussed “somatoform disorder”, where a seizure looks like an epileptic one but is in fact “a psychiatric one, in the mind, or originating from that”.<\/p>\n

“The easy thing for me to say is, I’m not a psychiatrist … but it is a psychogenic form of a seizure,” he said.<\/p>\n

Defence counsel Ashleigh Beech confirmed with Dewes that the accused presented as normal during the appointment.<\/p>\n

“Exactly,” Dewes replied.<\/p>\n

Asked if one of the causes of a psychogenic seizure was anxiety or stress, Dewes confirmed it was.<\/p>\n

He said he was “superficially” aware of the defendant’s anxiety disorder but because he was concerned about sleep apnoea, he focused on his sleep issues.<\/p>\n

Asked whether they discussed him driving, Dewes said it wasn’t discussed.<\/p>\n

Earlier discussion about driving<\/p>\n

Cambridge neurologist Dr Peter Wright gave evidence an appointment the defendant had with Wright’s registrar colleague in early February 2019, as a follow-up to his appointment in November 2018.<\/p>\n

It was in the November appointment that the defendant was told not to drive for 12 months, given he had been having seizure-like events.<\/p>\n

At that stage, Wright believed the defendant’s seizures were anxiety-related.<\/p>\n

Asked by Boot whether there was any discussion with the defendant about driving, Wright said, “Absolutely, yes, there was”.<\/p>\n

Wright produced a letter that stated the accused was not to drive for 12 months from November 2018, a copy of which was sent to his home address.<\/p>\n

Beech asked if it was common for people who suffer seizure events to experience memory loss, Wright confirmed they’d be left with a “patchy memory”, especially if they had lost consciousness.<\/p>\n

“You won’t remember that,” he said.<\/p>\n

At the time of that appointment, the defendant had not received a formal diagnosis, but the doctor couldn’t confidently rule out epilepsy.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\nThe car ploughed through the iron gates of this property and into the back of two parked cars.
\nPhoto: Open Justice \/ Belinda Feek\n<\/p>\n

Questioned by Beech about her client being advised not to drive, Wright said there was “no ambiguity about what was meant”.<\/p>\n

She then said his evidence was reading a letter written by his registrar, but signed by him. His registrar was also the one who saw her client in his appointment that day.<\/p>\n

Wright agreed, but said that was normal.<\/p>\n

Beech then repeatedly pressed Wright about how sure he could be that her client received the letter, asking him whether he knew who put it in the post.<\/p>\n

“You are as sure as I am,” he replied.<\/p>\n

The trial continues.<\/p>\n

* This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"First published on The man’s car pictured in the driveway of a Whatawhata Road property in Hamilton after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":378804,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48,47,111,43,139,69,49,46,44,45],"class_list":{"0":"post-378803","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-current-affairs","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz","14":"tag-podcasts","15":"tag-public-radio","16":"tag-radio-new-zealand","17":"tag-rnz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378803","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=378803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378803\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/378804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=378803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=378803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=378803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}