“I’m required to sentence in accordance with the law,” he said, noting the charge Wilson was found guilty of after a judge-alone trial – careless operation of a vehicle causing death – carries a maximum penalty of three months’ imprisonment.

Two months earlier, during a scheduled sentencing hearing that was adjourned, the judge had expressed his own frustration.

The defendant’s behaviour, including tardiness to hearings and missing repeated calls from a probation officer trying to prepare a pre-sentencing report, showed “total disregard for the court and the process, it would seem”, the judge said.

‘Foolish and unnecessary’

James Wyatt, 26, and the defendant had known each other from primary school.

They weren’t close friends leading up to the December 2020 incident but they lived in separate dwellings on the same rural property in Leigh, where the victim’s family has farmed for generations, dating back to the 1860s.

So when Wyatt had friends over for Crate Day – a widely celebrated but unofficial holiday that has copped criticism for promoting binge drinking – Wilson decided to join the group with two boxes of Heineken.

He also smoked two joints before taking a nap, the judge said in his sentencing remarks.

Around 5pm, the group decided to drive to another area of the farm to look at pine trees that had been felled and Wilson followed in his own vehicle.

“You and Mr Wyatt took turns to do doughnuts in your utility vehicle,” the judge said, noting that Wilson then smoked a third joint before the group decided to drive back.

While Wyatt started out in a car with his friends, he swapped over to the passenger seat of Wilson’s vehicle after getting out to close a paddock gate.

Wilson then accelerated past the other vehicle and up a steep paddock slope, the speed causing the rear of his vehicle to slip. He then overcorrected, the judge said, resulting in the car rolling sideways down the hill.

Wilson said Wyatt, who wasn’t wearing a seatbelt, opened the door and got out before the vehicle landed on him. Wyatt’s family disputes that. Regardless, it is not in dispute that Wilson’s driving was to blame for the death.

“I denounce your conduct, because the way you drove that day was foolish and unnecessary risk-taking,” Judge Dawson said.

While some fatal crashes that result in such a charge are the result of “mere inattention”, Wilson’s driving was “entirely inappropriate” for the conditions, he said.

Outdoorsman, father

More than a thousand people attended Wyatt’s funeral, where he was placed in a coffin handcrafted by his father and brothers.

He was remembered as a kind and funny, talented athlete whose strong work ethic as a carpenter – he spent each day alongside his father, a fulltime builder and weekend farmer – was partially inspired by wanting to provide for his own child.

“He absolutely doted on his young son,” said his father.

Wyatt was also known as an outdoorsman adept at fishing, hunting and diving – the person neighbours would call when they needed to track down a feral hog. But he was particularly well-known for rugby and cricket skills.

He was a top scorer for Pakiri Cricket Club. His family, used to watching him compete, can now only attend memorial games in his honour, his sister told the court.

Wyatt’s fiancee described him as the most genuine person she had ever met and “my safe space, my everything”.

“James and I planned to get married, have more children, travel the world and spend a lifetime making memories together,” she said. “That was our goal, our future.

“He would often say he wanted to spend his younger years working hard, so that later we could simply enjoy life together. He gave everything he had, unbeknownst, to his final years – his energy, time, his dreams, working tirelessly to provide for and secure his family’s future.”

Because of Wilson’s actions, she said, their son is left without a father and with a “broken version” of his mother. When still a toddler, their son would say he wanted to die to be with his father. It broke her heart even more to see their child’s grief, she said.

Problematic mindset

Wilson’s dangerous driving on Crate Day wasn’t the first, nor the last, time his driving would come under scrutiny.

Court records show that in the six years before the incident, he had accrued demerit points or licence suspensions on nine separate occasions for speeding and other driving-related matters.

Perhaps more concerning, the judge pointed out at his sentencing, were his two post-crash driving convictions.

He noted Wilson had expressed remorse in a letter to the court and through his lawyers. People with true remorse for their actions “do something about it”, the judge said.

“But you’ve gone on to offend with further driving convictions,” Judge Dawson said. “So you continue to drive badly after these events.”

Because of that, he said, Wilson has been assessed by probation as presenting a moderate risk of reoffending and a moderate to high risk of causing harm to others.

The judge acknowledged a difficulty of the case was that authorities didn’t know exactly how much drugs and alcohol were in the defendant’s system, relying instead on witness accounts at his trial.

“Nevertheless, it would have had some effect on you,” the judge said.

Given the three-month maximum, Judge Dawson said the appropriate starting point was nine weeks’ imprisonment. He allowed a half-week reduction for Wilson’s willingness to participate in a restorative justice conference and his offer of $5000 in emotional harm reparation – both of which were rejected by the victim’s family.

The judge then converted it to a non-custodial sentence, six weeks of community detention, because of the lack of serious criminal offending on Wilson’s record.

The 12 months’ supervision that will follow, he said, will aim to “assist you in getting over the mindset you appear to have”. He also banned Wilson from driving for a year.

The judge addressed the Wyatt family before allowing Wilson to leave the dock.

“Your memories of James will always be with you,” he said, adding that he hoped the hearing would help them to move forward.

‘Sorrow and rage’

The past five years have brought “unimaginable pain and heartbreak” for Wyatt’s family as they dealt with the loss and the frustrating court process, his mother said in a victim impact statement. She attempted to read it aloud in court but had to sit down, unable to stop the flow of tears, and hand it over to a support person.

“We have lost a treasure,” she said. “It has ripped away my heart and soul, destroying my very essence.

“Laughter feels foreign. I am suspended in a place of sorrow and rage.”

While the judicial system often uses the word “closure”, Wyatt’s mum said she found that to be a “detestable” word. His death is something his family will never get over, she told the judge.

“My life will never return to normal,” she said.

Other family members expressed similar sentiments.

One of his sisters had been a nurse at Auckland City Hospital when the crash occurred but ended up leaving the profession due in part to the traumatic experience, she said. In addition to her lost career, the family homestead has been forever “tainted” as the scene of the crash, she said.

“James’ death and the lack of remorse and responsibility shown by the defendant has had a profound effect,” she told the court, pointing to the defendant’s more recent driving convictions.

“These charges show that Ashley continued to choose to exhibit reckless and dangerous behaviour,” she told the court, expressing concern that if the “total disregard for the safety of others” continues “someone else will die”.

Wyatt’s partner, in conversations with the Herald outside court and during her victim impact statement, agreed.

“I know my words will never touch the heart of Ashley,” she said. “How could he possibly understand what it feels like to have your heart ripped from your chest; to stand in court and plead for justice, hoping that someone who has taken so much from us will be held accountable?”

She accused the defendant of having acted in an intimidating rather than an apologetic manner on the occasions their paths have crossed since her partner’s death.

“These are not actions of someone with remorse,” she said.

“Being late on multiple occasions here in court has taken hours from my life, which then sets me back each time moving forward. Having to attend court time and time again only to walk away disappointed in the lack of respect he shows for what he has done.

“James lost his life. This seems to all be a joke to him.”

Individually, Brittney Wyatt praised the judge, prosecutors, police and victim support staff for helping navigate the court process. But a general angst persisted among her and the wider family, a feeling that the justice system as a whole had let them down.

It’s not a matter of vindictiveness, Wyatt’s father said, but surely there must be consequences.

“There is a duty of care when you have a passenger in a vehicle you are driving,” he said.

Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.

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