Jada Manase, then fresh out of police college, was off-duty and had fallen asleep at the wheel after a night of drinking when she crashed into 69-year-old David Lane. Photo / Alex Burton
Jada Manase, then fresh out of police college, was off-duty and had fallen asleep at the wheel after a night of drinking when she crashed into 69-year-old David Lane. Photo / Alex Burton
A young former police officer has been sentenced to home detention for drink-driving in a crash that killed a cyclist last year.
Jada Manase, then 21 and fresh out of police college, fell asleep at the wheel after a night of drinking when she collided with 69-year-old David Lane’s bicyclein September.
Lane’s grieving sister told the court about the shock of her younger brother’s death as Manase was sentenced on Friday afternoon.
“He was mown down by a speeding, drunk, off-duty policewoman, who was drinking all night and thought she was above the law,” Jennifer Keene said in a letter read out at the Manukau District Court by a victim adviser.
“It’s heartbreaking that Dave had only just retired that week with many plans for the future,” she wrote, “Travel, moving house, a new car, cycling.”
Keene and her son had to fly from Wales, where they lived, to New Zealand to arrange his funeral.
“It was stressful sorting through his personal affairs,” she wrote, and his many friends around the world could not come to his funeral or say goodbye because of his sudden death.
The incident happened on Stancombe Rd in the Auckland suburb of Flat Bush just after 8am on September 17 last year.
The court heard Manase was in her Nissan pick-up truck going at a speed of 68-72km/h, exceeding the speed limit of 60.
Her vehicle drifted into the cycle lane, colliding with Lane, who was on his Saturday morning bike ride.
The Nissan continued, striking four parked vehicles, causing damage that was so significant two of them had to be written off.
Lane, a triathlete and former Ironman competitor, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Flowers left for cyclist David Lane, after a crash on Stancombe Rd, Flat Bush. Photo / Raphael Franks
Manase was taken to a police station and recorded 600 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath, one and a half times the legal limit.
The court heard she had been drinking in the city with friends the night before until about 2am, when she went to a friend’s house and had breakfast.
She thought she had sobered up and was all right to drive, but fell asleep not far from home.
It was a “stupid decision”, she said later.
Judge David McNaughton said Manase’s immediate acceptance of responsibility and real remorse was “crystal clear” in her letter to court, her psychological and pre-sentence reports and references from her friends and family.
“You say you’ll carry the shame and humiliation for as long as you live, and will do everything you can in your power to make amends,” he added.
Jada Manase, then fresh out of police college, was off duty and had fallen asleep at the wheel after a night of drinking when she crashed into 69-year-old David Lane. Photo / Alex Burton
He said Manase showed symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and depression after the crash and had returned to the scene several times for prayers.
“I can’t do anything without feeling guilty... it’s always there,” she told a probation officer.
Judge McNaughton sentenced her to nine months of home detention after significant discounts for her early guilty plea, remorse and relative youth at the time.
The Crown had sought an uplift to her sentence, saying her job as a police officer made her more culpable for drink-driving.
The judge dismissed it, saying he was not persuaded Manase should know better as a police officer because the public is equally aware of the dangers of drink-driving.
Despite coming from a broken family and moving around a lot as a child, Manase was a role model and leader in school, described as kind, considerate and caring, the court heard.
She resigned from the police force earlier this month, the judge saying she has paid a high price with the loss of her career.
“No doubt you will carry a heavy burden of guilt. Perhaps one day you will forgive yourself and move on,” he said.
Manase’s friends and family, who filled the public gallery, gathered to sing a waiata outside the courtroom after the hearing.
