KEY POINTS:
One of two train drivers charged over a Wairarapa rail crash which left a man seriously injured has had the charge against him dropped.
The other driver will hear his fate after the judge has considered written submissions from the Crown and the defence.
Steven Clay McIver, 42, and Daniel Alois Greene, 51, employees of Toll New Zealand, had both pleaded not guilty to failing to correctly apply brakes to a line of wagons knowing action was likely to cause death or serious injury.
At the conclusion of the five-day trial in Wellington District Court today, Judge Denis Barry dropped the charge against Mr Greene.
He said it was appropriate to do so because it had come out in evidence this week it was possible a mechanical failure had caused the air brakes to release the line of nine empty freight wagons in July 2005.
The wagons had rolled about 14km south from Waingawa, south of Masterton, before colliding with newspaper delivery driver Steven Geange's utility vehicle, about 5.30am at a railway crossing monitored by a stop sign.
Mr Geange suffered severe brain injury, internal bleeding and fractures to his skull and back.
An investigation found the hand brakes had not been applied to the wagons at all and some of the air brakes had only been partially applied.
The court was told McIver was solely responsible for applying the hand brakes.
Judge Barry ordered the Crown and defence to make their written submissions to him by December 10, after which he would make a decision about the guilt of McIver who was remanded at large until January 29.
The sole defence witness, Toll train engineer Roland Hughes, told the court this morning that before the accident in 2005 it was not common practice for rail workers to apply the handbrakes when unhitching wagons for a short time at Waingawa, despite it being in the rules to do so.
He said he and his colleagues believed the air brakes were strong enough to hold the wagons.
Crown lawyer Simon Barr said earlier this week the failure of the brakes being correctly applied had caused the crash and the drivers should have known that their actions were likely to cause serious injury.
- NZPA
