Wellington drink driver who hit and killed pedestrian got behind wheel drunk again months later

Declan Curley was hit and killed on Wellington's Dixon St in the early hours of February 12 last year. Photo / George Heard

Just two months after hitting and killing a pedestrian while drink driving on his restricted licence, Callum Wither got behind the wheel drunk again.

NZME can now reveal Wither, who was double the legal limit and speeding when he hit and killed Irish National Declan Curley in February last year, was charged with drink driving in April 2022.

Wither pleaded guilty in the Wellington District Court on Monday to charges of dangerous driving causing death and two counts of excess breath alcohol.

The courts previously suppressed his second charge of drink driving.

However, Judge Andrew Nicholls lifted suppression on the second charge of drink driving on Thursday, and notified the media it could now be reported.

According to the summary of facts, Wither had been drinking in April 2022 when he got behind the wheel of a Volkswagen car intoxicated at around 4am.

He was in the approximate area where he had hit and killed Curley just two months earlier.

A police breath test revealed he was again twice the legal limit with a reading of 529 micrograms per litre of breath. He told police he was driving to drop his friends home in Newtown.

Wither was also on bail at the time for February’s offending.

The circumstances of his second drink driving charge are strikingly like the night Curley, a beloved friend and family member, was hit by Wither on Dixon St.

Wither had been out drinking with friends that night in central Wellington too, and at around 3.30am he was driving a VW Golf in a popular area for nightlife in the city.

After leaving the bar, Wither and three friends intended to head home to the Hutt Valley, dropping his passengers off along the way.

The summary of facts revealed one of his friends had tried to take the keys from him due to his intoxication.

Stopping at a major intersection on the corner of Taranaki St and Courtenay Place, Wither “accelerated heavily”, travelling down Dixon St at around 56km/h, nearly twice the speed limit.

His passengers had told him to slow down, but it was too late.

Wither struck Curley as the 37-year-old went to cross the street. He died at the scene.

In explanation to the police, Wither said he thought the victim “was pretending to cross in front of him”.

Wither is currently released on bail and will be next before the courts in October.

Hazel Osborne is an Open Justice reporter for NZME and is based in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington. She joined the Open Justice team at the beginning of 2022, previously working in Whakatāne as a court and crime reporter in the Eastern Bay of Plenty.