Adam Speir has been on trial for manslaughter in the High Court at Auckland, accused of causing a four-vehicle crash that resulted in the death of another motorist. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Adam Speir has been on trial for manslaughter in the High Court at Auckland, accused of causing a four-vehicle crash that resulted in the death of another motorist. Photo / Brett Phibbs
A man who reported suffering a psychotic episode while speeding into a busy East Auckland intersection, causing a four-car pile-up that resulted in the death of a father of two, has been found guilty of manslaughter.
Jurors in the High Court at Auckland returned the verdict against Adam Michael ZacharySpeir today after barely more than an hour of deliberation.
An accident reconstruction expert testified during the weeklong trial that Speir was estimated to have been driving his Holden Commodore at about 110km/h in the 60km/h zone on the evening of January 28, 2019, as he approached the intersection of Tī Rākau Drive and Botany Rd in Golflands, near the Botany Town Centre mall.
He had traces of methamphetamine and cannabis in his blood.
Dashcam videos from two vehicles played for jurors during the trial showed Speir's car slamming into the back of Zhengwen "Alan" Hu's wagon with such force that the Commodore momentarily seemed to be at a nearly 45-degree angle from the road - its front wheels wedged under Hu's stationary vehicle and its back wheels in the air.
Police cut Hu, a 50-year-old aviation security officer at Auckland Airport and father of two school-aged daughters, from his seatbelt and pulled him from the wreckage. He was given CPR at the scene but could not be revived.
Speir was taken to hospital. About a week later, he agreed to talk to police, explaining that he had left his grandmother's house when the crash occurred.
"All I can say was I was going along there and someone said something to me," he told police in a video that was played for jurors. "I don't know who it was. That's all I can say. It's weird, you know. I can't explain it.
Adam Speir has been on trial for manslaughter in the High Court at Auckland, accused of causing a four-vehicle crash that resulted in the death of another motorist. Photo / Brett Phibbs
"It f***ing feels real f***ed up but someone said something to me. I don't know who it was. I feel like I was tricked, though, 'cos they said I'd go on to a better place. Well, I haven't.
"They said if I killed myself then everyone would be saved."
Speir elected not to testify during the trial.
Defence counsel Andrew Speed argued that his client should not be held accountable for the crash because it was due to a spontaneous psychotic episode. If not for the psychosis there would not have been a crash, he said.
There's no evidence his client could have anticipated the psychosis and no evidence he would have failed an impairment test as a result of his drug use, he told jurors during closing arguments.
But Crown prosecutor Luke Radich said the defendant should have seen trouble coming and never should have gotten into the car in the first place, which equated to gross negligence.
Speir told a psychologist that he had experienced trouble sleeping for weeks because of methamphetamine use. He had used meth the night before the crash and had not slept again, he admitted. He smoked cannabis on the same day as the crash but said the drug only made him feel normal.
A police expert testified that impairment cannot be determined by the levels of methamphetamine or cannabis in the blood. However, the amounts found in Speir's blood were similar to levels in people who have been found to be impaired, she said.
Radich described the drug use as causing a domino effect of sorts - leading to the psychosis that led to the crash.
Speir also had good reason to think before getting in the car that a psychotic episode might be coming, prosecutors said.
Speir described walking in a park that morning and feeling a twitching in his leg, followed by what he described as evil or malevolent energy.
"Oh f***, it's that feeling again," he recalled thinking to himself.
The victim, a former high school sports teacher in Shanghai before moving to New Zealand in 2002, was described by colleagues and friends at the time of his death as a devoted father and family man.
He and his wife were building a house in Half Moon Bay, where they had decided to relocate so their 8- and 11-year-old daughters could attend better schools. His last day alive was Auckland Anniversary Day, and he had used the time off work to watch the installation of carpeting at their new home.
The crash garnered attention from across New Zealand and overseas. A Givealittle page set up for his widow and daughters raised nearly $170,000 - with messages of condolence from Australia, Malaysia, Hong Kong and China - before the family asked to close the page so that the "attention and kindness'' could be focused on other worthy causes.
Hu's widow was in court today as the jury foreman announced the quick verdict.
