Survivor ready to rebuild life after court sentencing

THE PRESS

TRAGEDY: Geoff Eades leaves Christchurch District Court. His wife, granddaughter, and his wife's cousin died after a car he was driving crashed when he fell asleep.

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Geoff Eades is looking forward to rebuilding his life after being sentenced over a crash in Christchurch that killed his wife, granddaughter and his wife's cousin.

"I'm pleased it's all over," the 62-year-old said outside the Christchurch District Court yesterday.

New Zealand-born Eades, who arrived from Britain on September 14 to see his sick mother, fell asleep at the wheel of a car that hit a power pole in South New Brighton on September 16.

He pleaded guilty yesterday to three charges of careless driving causing the deaths of his wife, Sera Eades, 60, granddaughter Iva Harper, three, and Valerie Bryan, 68, who were all from Derbyshire.

Judge David Ongley said the tragedy was "beyond words".

"He realised he was starting to fall asleep. It's well-known what can occur while driving [when fatigued] and there were warnings," the judge said.

He sentenced Eades to 150 hours community service and disqualified him from driving for a year, adding: "It's only a small part of the burden he has to carry."

Eades said after the sentencing that the crash was a "lesson to everyone".

"If I had of stopped and shut my eyes for 10 minutes it wouldn't have happened," he said.

"Driving while tired is more dangerous than anyone can imagine."

Eades, a software expert, suffered a broken ankle, cracked ribs and a partially collapsed lung in the crash, but walked without assistance into court yesterday.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Paul Brocas said the jet-lagged Eades remembered his head jerking back from fatigue while he was driving but decided to continue because he was so close to his destination.

His passengers, who were all wearing seatbelts, were asleep.

Witnesses said the car was being driven normally but then veered off the road and hit a power pole.

Brocas said Eades was "extremely traumatised and remorseful".

Lawyer Garth Gallaway, for Eades, said his client "simply succumbed to jetlag".

"He will continue to suffer terribly from this decision," Gallaway said.

The crash was "relatively low-speed" and Eades was not driving dangerously, he said.

There was little point in imposing a fine, Gallaway said, noting Iva's parents, Linieta Eades and Jeff Harper, and Bryan's husband did not want the sentence to cause further distress.

The judge said that to simply disqualify Eades from driving was a punishment not commensurate with a driving decision that resulted in the tragedy.

Eades declined to comment on the sentence.

He will leave tomorrow for Wellington, where he plans to live and work, close to the graves of his wife and granddaughter.