Quad-bike charges 'pointless'

Gavin Vanner

The lawyer who defended a farmer cleared over the death of his 4-year-old daughter yesterday slammed police for laying the charges, calling the case pointless and saying it disrupted a family's ability to grieve.

A jury took just 90 minutes to find Gavin Vanner not guilty of the manslaughter of his daughter Molly, who died last year when a farm bike rolled on top of her.

He was also found not guilty of an alternative charge of criminal nuisance.

Nearly 60 farmers supporting him in the public gallery cried with joy when the jury gave its verdict in the High Court at New Plymouth.

"Thank you jury," yelled one farmer from the public gallery.

Mr Vanner hugged his wife, Wendy, and lawyer Susan Hughes - who was also in tears - after the verdicts were given.

The Crown had claimed that Mr Vanner was grossly negligent in allowing 4-year-old Molly Vanner - who weighed 18kg - to ride his adult quad bike weighing 368kg to round up the cows for milking.

She lost control of the bike and it rolled on her, causing massive head injuries that killed her instantly.

In her summing-up to the jury yesterday, Ms Hughes said there had never been a more pointless prosecution.

"If it is thought by those who decided to prosecute that this action would somehow educate farmers, then those who have made that decision are plainly wrong."

She stressed that Mr Vanner was a good, careful father, respected in the community, and that Molly's crash was an accident.

She said the couple's grieving for their daughter had been interrupted by the court case.

Police last night defended their decision to charge Mr Vanner.

"The trial has highlighted the issue of adult-sized ATVs [all-terrain vehicles] on farms and it is an opportune time for all farmers to reassess their own personal safety practices, especially involving children as riders," said Detective Paul Davison of Hawera CIB.

He said he hoped that when the emotion of the trial died down, debate would ensure another child did not die in similar circumstances.

Outside a female juror waited for the Vanners, hugging them as they left.

Another with a wide grin on his face congratulated Mr Vanner's close friends.

After the verdicts, Ms Hughes told Justice Rodney Hansen she wanted two weeks to file a case for costs.

An appeal is also going out to farmers to donate the proceeds of a cow sent to the meatworks to help to pay Mr Vanner's legal costs.

Outside the court, Crown solicitor Timothy Brewer said the prosecution was brought because Molly Vanner died in a way which was killing children on farms every year.

"The prosecution was not about the grief and suffering of the parents, but of course that is what was presented in court."

Department of Labour statistics show the number one cause of deaths on farms is ATV accidents.

Seven people - including Molly - died in such accidents last year. ACC gets about 50 claims a year from children in ATV accidents.

There are estimated to be 70,000 of the vehicles in use on farms in New Zealand and industry guidelines released by interest groups including ACC, the Department of Labour and Federated Farmers say no one under 15 should be allowed to ride them.

They also say helmets and protective clothing should be worn.

The guidelines were released in 2003 and were developed over 10 years.

ACC pamphlets on quad bike safety were sent to farmers together with requests for levies, but as some farmers said in court, the guidelines were just that - they were not a legal requirement.

One farmer said it would take a legal requirement before he would change his practices.

Justice Hansen said in his summing-up that the reality seemed to be that most, or at least many farmers let their children ride the bikes by themselves and some were as young as Molly.

Farmers who gave evidence for the defence all said they let their children ride the bikes and carried them as a passenger.

The bikes were part of farm life and children were too, they said.

Many said they were not aware of the guidelines; others said they weighed up the risks and believed they could keep their children safe.

Justice Hansen said themes of evidence suggested a "yawing gulf" had opened up between what safety experts said and what farmers did.

"Another seems to be that the education programme undertaken by ACC, Federated Farmers and others doesn't seem to be particularly effective; there seems to have been little awareness of the guidelines," he said.

For the friends and family of Gavin Vanner, however, the verdicts were, as Bernadette Winks said outside the court, better than winning Lotto.