KEY POINTS:
A milk tanker driver has been convicted after an 11-day trial over the deaths of two men in a horrific road smash.
In Tauranga District Court this week a jury found Ryan Harrison, 30, guilty of two counts of dangerous driving causing the deaths of the two Tauranga fathers, the Bay of Plenty Times reported.
Vincent Hyland, 38, who had one son, and Clayton Woodward, 28, who also had a son and was about to become a father again, died after Harrison's 46-tonne B-train tanker slammed into their 4WD vehicles at Tauriko, 10km southwest of Tauranga on October 8 2006.
Harrison was also found guilty on two counts of dangerous driving causing serious injury to 35-year-old Grant Collett and his stepson Samuel Stewart aged 15. Both were passengers in Mr Hyland's vehicle. Harrison was granted bail by Judge Peter Rollo until sentencing on July 25 despite Crown opposition.
The court was told Harrison was driving down a hill about 7pm when he turned left into a bend too sharply at speed and lost control.
One trailer rolled, dragging with it the second trailer and the B-train unit, which slammed into Mr Hyland and Mr Woodward's two vehicles.
Mr Hyland and Mr Woodward were driving in convoy back to Tauranga after a day out driving with mates.
Police crash investigators established Harrison, who was on his way to deliver a load to the Waikato, was driving between 107km/h and 111km/h at the time.
Harrison told the jury he had no recollection of the crash due to the head injury. He insisted he had not been speeding.
- NZPA
