It has been nine years since the crash on StateHighway 3, south of Hamilton, when Dylan Cossey and Lance Robinson were racing about 10pm.
Police estimated Robinson, who was three times the alcohol limit and had traces of methamphetamine and cannabis in his system, was doing up to 150km/h when he overtook Cossey on a corner and fishtailed into an oncoming van.
Dylan Cossey, 27, enters the Hamilton District Court for sentencing on three charges on Tuesday morning. Photo / Belinda Feek
Robinson, 28, and his three passengers, Paul De Silva, 20, Jason Ross, 19, and Hannah Strickett-Craze, 24, were killed instantly and the driver of the plumbing van was critically injured.
Cossey has since spiralled into what Judge Glen Marshall described as “the grips of alcohol addiction” resulting in his “bizarre” behaviour last year.
In the first incident on September 29, Cossey threw milk crates at passing vehicles while standing outside a dairy on Maeroa Rd.
A court summary of facts describes him as being in a “moderate state of intoxication”.
Police were called and an officer approached Cossey who began yelling, “I’ve got four counts of manslaughter and I want to make you the fifth”.
He insisted he knew karate and closed in on the officer until he was right in his face.
Cossey began swinging punches then following it up with a karate kick to the face, which narrowly missed the officer.
He was then arrested and driven to Hamilton Central Police Station. On the way he tried to headbutt the officer, however, he was able to deflect the strike before it landed.
Then, about 5.30pm on December 10, Cossey was outside the victim’s house in the suburb of Maeroa.
Dylan Cossey in the dock of the High Court at Hamilton in 2018. Photo / Natalie Akooire
She left her house, leaving it unoccupied.
Cossey smashed a kitchen window and climbed through, damaging several household items off a table and onto the floor.
He then fell asleep on her bed.
The victim returned home about 6.15pm to find him asleep and called police.
Cossey was in the Hamilton District Court today where he was sentenced on charges of assaulting police, intentional damage, and being unlawfully in a building.
‘You have some serious issues ’
Judge Glen Marshall acknowledged Cossey had been seeking help from the Salvation Army’s bridge programme and Odyssey House as “you obviously need some assistance to follow through with these kinds of rehabilitative programmes”.
“It seems very clear that you are in the grip of alcohol addiction and your behaviour is somewhat bizarre, and you have some serious issues.”
He agreed to impose a recommendation of intensive supervision — 18 months — which he hoped would “enable you to get the help you so desperately need”.
Judge Marshall told Cossey he would judicially monitor his sentence so if there were any hiccups, he would bring him back to court.
Lance Robinson.
“This is meant to assist you back into the community so make the most of it, Mr Cossey, or I can see your life going downhill further from here.”
‘Gap it bro’
After the crash, Cossey’s front seat passenger Stephen Jones was heard on a video he was taking of the race to yell: “Gap it, bro” and Cossey fled the scene.
Cossey was found guilty of four counts of manslaughter, one charge of racing causing injury, and one charge of failing to stop and ascertain injury after an accident.
He was sentenced to 12 months' home detention, 400 hours' community work and disqualified from driving for seven years.
Jones was found guilty of attempting to pervert the course of justice after he edited incriminating video of the crash, but was found not guilty of manslaughter.
The Crown appealed Cossey’s sentence, instead urging the Court of Appeal to issue a jail term.
While the Court agreed the home detention sentence was “manifestly inadequate”, it ruled it was too late as by the time they made their determination it was 2019 and Cossey’s home detention was to end imminently.
He was also, at the time, halfway through his community work and making good rehabilitative progress.
Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for 10 years and has been a journalist for 21.
