Man-ramming driver gets six years

A judge has all but ruled out a man's use of the methamphetamine P as the major factor in the near-killing of a stranger he ran down with a car in a Napier service station forecourt.
The incident happened early on Sunday, April 18, last year, and in the Napier District Court yesterday the driver of the car, Bruce Wayne Goyen, 34, of Christchurch, was sentenced to six years' jail for causing grievous bodily harm with intent.
Goyen denied the charge but was last month found guilty by a jury which was told victim Vaoifi Tauiautusa, a 37-year-old Samoan seasonal worker also known as Vaoifi Viliamu and William Vaoifi, had left New Zealand after surgery for his injuries.
As a result, no victim impact statement was available to the court, but Judge Tony Adeane said the victim had previously given indications that he had forgiven the driver.
During a week-long trial, evidence was given that samples taken from the accused about eight hours after the incident showed small traces of P.
But Judge Adeane said that in his view the evidence didn't support the contention that P caused the incident, and its role in Goyen's "extreme behaviour" was speculation.
According to evidence, Goyen had arrived in Napier from Christchurch a couple of hours before the incident,which happened about 3.30am.
Mr Vaoifi, described by a witness as "happy drunk" was walking home from visiting nightclubs in Napier and as he passed through the forecourt of the Shell Kennedy Road station slapped the bonnet of a car in which Goyen was in the driver's seat. He continued walking toward Kennedy Road.
But Goyen started the car, revved it up and drove straight at Mr Vaoifi, whose body was lifted onto the bonnet and then tossed against a fence post and rammed by the car, which then reversed, broke through a fence, crossed the railway lines and sped out onto the road.
The last moments were seen by a police officer, for whom Goyen stopped a short distance away.
Judge Adeane said that while the car appeared to have been ramming Mr Vaoifi against the fence post, it was not clear whether that had been a deliberate continuation of the incident, or part of Goyen's attempt to get away as another man started banging on the back of his car, and without knowing that the injured man was still trapped.
The judge said it was the original running-down of Mr Vaoifi that was the crucial act, as the Crown had contended. He noted medical experts had at one stage not expected the injured man to survive.
Crown prosecutor Clayton Walker sought a sentence of six to 10 years, but Judge Adeane determined from sentencing authority that the starting point was six years, and there were no mitigating or aggravating features for him to reduce or add to that.