Jasmine Donaldson has been found guilty of careless driving causing the death of her friend, Jade Richards. Photo / Kelly Makiha
“The word ‘sorry’ would have gone a long way,” a judge has told a woman whose driving on the way home from Rhythm and Vines caused a crash that killed her friend.
On New Year’s Day last year, Jasmine May Donaldson and Jade Nicole Richards were travelling back to Rotorua from Gisborne after spending four days at the music festival.
The car Donaldson and Richards were in, with a third friend and front-seat passenger, moved out of its lane, struck a rock wall and flipped on State Highway 30, 20km northeast of Rotorua near Ruato Bay.
Donaldson, the driver, and the front passenger were able to get out, but Richards, who had been in the back asleep, died at the scene.
Donaldson was charged with careless driving causing death, which she defended at trial, claiming she was sunstruck, and, at the same time, an oncoming vehicle frightened her.
However, Judge John Berseng found her guilty, finding there were signs of fatigue, and describing the decision to drive as “flawed” and one that led to “tragic consequences”.
This week, Donaldson appeared for sentencing in the Rotorua District Court, where, through her lawyer, Roderick Mulgan, she sought a discharge without conviction.
Mulgan said a conviction would end her aspirations to join the Australian army, something the now 20-year-old had been working towards since she was 13.
The police opposed the application, pointing to her apparent lack of remorse.
This prompted a discussion between Judge Bergseng and Mulgan over whether Donaldson had expressed remorse, or merely regret.
The judge referred to victim impact statements read by family members.
Richards’ twin brother said he had been waiting for her to return from Rhythm and Vines so he could help her unpack her bags and cook her dinner.
Instead, he was visited by police who told him his sister had been killed in a crash.
He spoke of seeing the wrecked car, his sister’s blood, and her lifeless body in the morgue, all as things that he “cannot unsee”.
Richards’ older sister said she no longer enjoyed doing the things she and her sister, whom she referred to as her best friend, used to do, and the trauma of washing blood from her sister’s clothes.
Richards’ mother gave a detailed account of the day she learned her daughter had died, her struggles to cope, and the mental image of her daughter’s “beautiful face lying dead in the morgue”.
All of Richards’ family members spoke of the grief of losing her just as she was preparing to start university.
The other theme was that Richards’ family felt Donaldson had shown little remorse and had not taken responsibility.
They all urged the judge not to grant a discharge without conviction.
The judge noted that in Donaldson’s affidavit, it was clear she regretted what had happened, but he thought it needed to go further.
Richards’ father, Mark Richards, told the judge it would have helped his family to see Donaldson take ownership.
He said that while she may have written about her remorse in her affidavit, it was never verbalised or expressed directly to them.
His voice cracked as he said, “Not one of our family has ever seen a word from her”, and said it seemed to have been dragged out for “self-preservation”.
“And that’s what hurts the most ... It could have been a way different outcome if we got closure two years ago. We could have sat in a room and all just grieved together.”
Donaldson’s lawyer said that her pleading not guilty didn’t mean she didn’t accept she made a driving error, but she had had a right to test whether that error met a criminal threshold.
When it came to sentencing, the judge said there was “no doubt that Jasmine has suffered from knowing that her driving failure caused Jade’s death”.
But other than an offer of $10,000 emotional harm reparation, there was “little that can be taken as an expression of remorse”.
She hadn’t undertaken any driver training or voluntary work, for example.
The judge said Donaldson’s approach to expressing remorse was “likely a consequence of her youth and her immaturity”.
“While I can’t speak for Jade’s family, it seems to me that the word ‘sorry’ would have gone a long way towards addressing the hurt that they feel,” the judge said.
He weighed Donaldson’s culpability as a driver and the consequences of a conviction.
“This was a mistake made by an 18-year-old driver,” he said.
Donaldson had been tired and shouldn’t have driven, but she hadn’t been “brazen”; it was the “product of youth” and her limited driving experience.
And there had been many “what ifs”.
“Unfortunately for Jade, she was effectively in the wrong place at the wrong time because of the consequences of Jasmine’s driving.”
The judge said it was clear a conviction would be an “absolute bar” to entry into her chosen career path in the Australian military, which she was accepted into before the crash.
Judge Bergseng granted the discharge without conviction, but Donaldson received a 10-month driving disqualification, was ordered to do a defensive driving course within four months, and was ordered to pay $10,000 in emotional harm reparation.
However, the judge noted he had placed “very little weight” on the reparation offer when considering the discharge application.
“Out of all of this, Jasmine, there are no winners,” he said.
“You have heard what has been said [by Jade’s family]. They would be very much helped by a very overt expression of remorse, no matter what might be the state of the relationship. I can’t force that. That is a matter I leave with you and your counsel.”
Hannah Bartlett is a Tauranga-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She previously covered court and local government for the Nelson Mail, and before that was a radio reporter at Newstalk ZB.