R v STANYARD [2012] NSWDC 78

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: R v STANYARD [2012] NSWDC 78 Hearing dates: 14 May 2012 - 16 May 2012, 22 May 2012 - 24 May 2012. Decision date: 25 May 2012 Before: Berman SC DCJ Decision: Verdict of guilty Catchwords: CRIMINAL LAW - Judge alone trial - Dangerous driving - Grievous bodily harm - Vehicle overturned Legislation Cited: Evidence Act Category: Principal judgment Parties: The Crown Christopher James Stanyard Representation: Mr C Everson - Crown Mr K Dailly - The Accused Director of Public Prosecutions Mainstone Lawyers - The Accused File Number(s): 2009/62492

Judgment

Introduction 1A terrible thing happened on 7th of February 2009. The accused, Christopher Stanyard, was driving a small Suzuki four wheel drive in an area of some sand dunes. As he drove over one of the dunes the vehicle rolled forward on to its roof. Seated in the back were two young girls, Nicole Crawford and Kristen Free. Both of them were injured when the vehicle rolled over. Ms Free broke both her arms but Ms Crawford suffered a much more serious injury with the result that she is now a tetraplegic with no feelings or movement from her shoulders down. 2The accused was charged with dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm. There are two such counts, one relating to Ms Free and one relating to Ms Crawford. He pleaded not guilty to those charges and asked that he be tried by judge alone. 3In the circumstances of this trial, the ultimate issue for me to decide was whether the accused was driving the motor vehicle in a manner dangerous to another person or persons immediately before it overturned. There is no issue that the accused was driving the motor vehicle, nor that it was involved in an impact, nor that, as a result of that impact, grievous bodily harm was occasioned to Ms Crawford and Ms Free.