Waikato man Wiremu Prime (pictured) was intoxicated by alcohol and cannabis when he crashed into the back of another motorcyclist, Raymond Spooner. Photo / Facebook
Sharon Spooner had been anticipating the arrival home of her beloved husband, Raymond, and when checking his GPS, discovered he’d stopped moving.
Concerned, she drove the short 1.5km to an unimaginable scene; the father-of-three lying lifeless on the road.
The 36-year-old died on a stretch of State Highway 39 after Wiremu Prime, intoxicated by drugs and alcohol, crashed into the back of him, after failing to slow down for the 70kmh speed limit of the small Waikato township, Ngāhinapōuri, on the night of September 5, last year.
This afternoon, there was tension in the Hamilton District Court as Prime was jailed for causing Spooner’s death.
All but four seats in the public gallery were filled by Spooner’s family and friends, who clapped as Judge Kim Saunders announced a sentence of three years’ imprisonment.
“Should have been you in the ground, boy,” one supporter said to Prime as he sat in the dock.
But when one of Prime’s supporters muttered; “You’ll be happy with that”, it sparked a heated response from several grieving supporters, with the judge having to interrupt and ask people to continue to honour Spooner’s memory.
Five of Spooner’s whānau read victim impact statements to the court, including his grieving widow Sharon, and his parents Vicki and Gavin.
Sharon explained she and her husband had been happily married for 10 years and had three children together.
“He had a true passion for life,” she said.
“He had the biggest heart of anyone I’ve ever known, and he loved nothing more than being surrounded by his family, or the friends we call family.
“He was the kind of person who made the world feel safer, warmer, better.
“For me ... Ray leaves behind a legacy of love, laughter, and a little craziness.
“He lived big and he loved hard and his absence has left an immeasurable void in our lives.”
After discovering her husband, she then had to make the dreaded phone call to his mother, Vicki, who also raced to the scene.
“What I encountered there is something no mother should ever go through,” Vicki told the court.
“The shock and disbelief were immense. The horror of not being able to hold or comfort my son for the last time while he takes his last breath.
“It was a wound that will never heal.”
On the night of the crash, Prime borrowed his brother-in-law’s Harley Davidson and drove to Ngāruawāhia.
At the time, Prime had an expired learner’s driver’s licence and was subject to 90 demerit points. He’s never held any form of motorbike licence.
He didn’t know Spooner, who happened to have a day off work.
The pair met while Spooner was filling up his motorbike at the service station in Whatawhata, and Prime acknowledged him.
The pair then rode out to Raglan together.
Police estimated that the pair drove at about 20km faster than the recommended speed limit.
They then stopped at a hotel in Raglan, where they each had two bottles of beer over about an hour.
Before leaving town, Prime brought a 10-pack of RTD cans, and the pair rode to Old Mountain Rd to visit a friend of Spooner’s.
There, they had more alcohol, and Prime also smoked cannabis.
Shortly after 5pm, they left Spooner’s friend’s and rode back to Whatawhata.
Police inquiries found that Prime nearly crashed at one point while trying to overtake Spooner on a corner.
Near Whatawhata village, the pair overtook a car at speed while riding along the median strip.
They then stopped at the pub and drank more alcohol between 6pm and 7pm.
The pair left, heading along State Highway 39, toward Ngāhinapōuri, again overtaking “multiple cars and each other at speed”.
As they approached the 70kmh zone of Ngāruawāhia, Spooner slowed down, but Prime didn’t, and crashed into the back of Spooner’s motorbike, catapulting him off.
Spooner died at the scene.
Prime returned a blood alcohol level of 155mg. The legal limit is 50mg.
He also returned a THC level of .25 nanograms.
Before falling asleep while being interviewed by police at Waikato Hospital, he told officers that he and Spooner had been racing and “being silly on the road before the crash”.
He also admitted to having 12 alcoholic drinks that day and being tired after a long day riding.
Prime had initially denied racing, but through his counsel Grace Aislabie, and after discussions with the judge, Aislabie conceded there had been racing that day.
However, she suggested there could be other reasons, other than cannabis, that would have caused him to fall asleep at the hospital.
She said her client also wished to make emotional harm payments.
However, as he was now on a benefit after losing his job after the crash, they would have to be in instalments.
“Mr Prime fully accepts that it’s his actions that have caused the loss of a life.
“It’s the worst-case scenario, and he is here to be held accountable,” she said.
He had also started an alcohol and drug treatment programme and been doing community hours at his marae.
She also pushed for a discount for the harm caused to his teenage daughter if he was sent to prison.
Judge Saunders told Prime, a father of four, he should never have been riding that motorcycle that day, given he was unlicensed.
She also acknowledged his remorse but noted his comments in a pre-sentence report in which he stated that he blacked out, woke up in the hospital, and didn’t remember anything.
“I am satisfied that this was a prolonged and persistent course of bad driving.
“This avoidable death, you should never have been riding in the first place, and the impact on the victims is high.”
She took a starting point of six years before acknowledging his early guilty plea with a 25% discount, along with discounts for remorse, rehabilitation, and the impact jail would have on his daughter.
Judge Saunders disqualified Prime from driving for five years, effective once he is released from prison, and ordered him to pay medical and drug testing costs of $1900.11.
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.