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A man who killed his 6-month-old son while driving while high on methamphetamine sobbed as he heard how his “abject stupidity” changed two families forever.
Wade Makoare will have to live with the shame of his actions, the Whanganui Superior Court heard Thursday.
Makoare, 25, was jailed for three years and six months for causing the involuntary manslaughter of his six-month-old son Michael and driving dangerously injuring five other people.
Michael was killed in a head-on collision near Waiouru military camp on June 13, 2019.
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Makoare, who appeared via video link, sobbed as Judge Francis Cooke read a summary of the crime.
Makoare has never had a driver’s license and stayed up all night before smoking methamphetamine.
He took more methamphetamine in the morning, thinking it would keep him awake for a drive from Palmerston North to Auckland.
Their car had five passengers, so Michael sat on his mother’s lap in the back.
Makoare sped the entire trip and only slowed for a moment when his partner asked him to.
He got stuck behind a truck and trailer unit and looked to pass it on a section of road with a curve before a blind corner.
The road was wet due to heavy rain.
GEORGE HEARD / THINGS
As a former methamphetamine dealer tries to outrun the drug, the Department of Corrections launched a new program to combat the growing number of methamphetamine users going to prison. (Video first posted on August 26, 2018)
Despite being told by his partner not to pass the truck, he left at a speed of between 110 and 120 km / h.
It collided with a vehicle driven by Daelyn Philps, in which Mohammed Najim and his two sons were also traveling.
Michael died at the scene, the Makoare couple had a broken arm and an adult passenger broke his arm and jaw.
Philps suffered rib fractures and internal bleeding, and Najim dislocated his hip and fractured his tibia.
Her youngest daughter suffered the worst injuries, which left her paralyzed from the neck down.
Philps, reading a victim impact statement in court while Najim looked at Makoare, said they had been on a two-week trip out of Wellington for their eldest daughter’s birthday.
He was driving carefully due to the weather and was surprised to see a car approaching them directly.
“You are not expected to drive on the wrong side of the road.
“We felt the rush of the two cars colliding head-on and then we passed out.”
Their youngest daughter spent four months at the Starship Children’s Hospital in Auckland on the brink of death, Philps said.
Judge Francis Cooke says Wade Makoare must live with the shame of his offense for the rest of his life.
Doctors and nurses kept saying that the boy may need to be transferred to hospice care.
“Basically, they told us to start preparing for his funeral.”
They had to move out of their home, buy new equipment and change their lives to deal with their new existence, he said.
Defense attorney Peter Brosnahan said Makoare was unable and did not attempt to justify his actions.
“He realizes what he has done through his abject stupidity.”
The judge said that Makoare, his whānau’s youngest son, grew up with an alcoholic father and had memories of his mother trying to protect children from extreme punishment.
He first took methamphetamine at age 8 when his sister gave it to him, was kicked out of school when he was 13, left home as a teenager and lived on the streets of South Auckland.
He began taking intravenous methamphetamine when he was 15 years old, using it to cope with emotional trauma.
Its use increased in the years leading up to the accident after the death of his father.
Her son was extremely vulnerable because he was not wearing a seat belt, so he should have driven carefully, the judge said.
He had caused massive harm to two families and himself.
“This offense will charge you with whakamā [shame] for the rest of your life. “
