Hawke's Bay truck driver Shane Williams convicted over Tīrau Bridge crash that killed Phillip Hogan

Phillip Hogan's 6-year-old daughter was excited to come home from school to show her dad her sports participation certificate.

But when she got home, the police were there. She was about to learn that her “hero” had been killed in an accident.

It was July 5, 2021 when Hogan passed away and his family's world shattered.

Hawke's Bay truck driver Shane Jody Williams, traveling south from Auckland, had failed to correctly measure the height of his load and hit a Tīrau overbridge, veering the truck into the path of the oncoming vehicle reverses Hogan and kills him.

Williams was found guilty of careless driving causing death after a judge-alone trial in the Rotorua District Court earlier this year.

He appeared before Judge Maree MacKenzie on Friday and was sentenced to 12 months' home detention.

He was also disqualified from driving for two years and ordered to pay emotional harm compensation of $20,000.

Victim impact statements from four members of Hogan's family were read, including his widow, Tania Paul-Hogan, and adult daughter, Samantha McGeady, who were in court.

Paul-Hogan also read a letter from their daughter, now 9 years old.

“To the man who took away my hero, my father: you ruined the rest of my future years…I really miss my father. He would always make my days better,” the little girl’s letter said.

In tears, Paul-Hogan also read her statement explaining how her life fell apart the day her husband and best friend was killed.

She said they got married in 2020 in Rotorua – her favorite place and where they dreamed of moving one day.

Happiness filled their home and their children's education and sports flourished.

Hogan was the family's main financial supporter, although Paul-Hogan said she started working five weeks before her death.

He would work during the day and she would work at night. After he died, she tried to cope by pretending he was just at work.

She detailed her downward spiral that led her to isolate herself due to panic attacks, anxiety and uncontrollable breakdowns.

She admitted to neglecting her children during this period.

McGeady tearfully recounted how she got down on her knees calling her father when she received the call to tell him he had died.

She then had to call her younger sister, Charlotte – who turned 16 that day – and tell her the news. She also had to tell her mother, Hogan's former partner, about it.

“I cry every day and can barely sleep. My father and I were very close, so it always affected me greatly and always will.

She described her father as a “good, hard-working, very funny and very loving man.”

His death meant that she, his four siblings and eight grandchildren would grow up without him.

“This wonderful human was taken from us too soon and too quickly. »

Crown prosecutor Pavee Patanasiri I read victim impact statements from Hogan's brother, Anthony Hogan, and his nephew, Koperu Hogan, who both wrote about how difficult it was to accept that a single miscalculation had an impact also traumatic.

Williams was an experienced truck driver employed by Deakin Transport. On July 5, he picked up a load – a truck – to take back to Hastings.

Judge MacKenzie said Williams measured the height of the truck with a tape measure and loaded it onto his trailer. He removed the valves from the tires and chained up the truck. He did not measure the total load with the truck on the trailer, estimating it would be 4.75 m.

It cleared an overpass at Mill Road, which had a posted clearance height of 4.8 m. It was now known that the authorization was actually bigger than that, she said.

On State Highway 1 southbound, Williams' truck and trailer collided with the Tīrau overpass. Due to the bridge's 145-degree angle to the road, the truck veered into the northbound lane, colliding with an oncoming vehicle driven by Hogan.

Justice MacKenzie noted that there were no recognized industry standards or training for truckers in measuring load heights.

“I find this astonishing given that professional truck drivers have a huge responsibility when operating heavy vehicles.”

She said truck drivers must ensure the height of their load before hitting the road.

Patanasiri argued that Williams appeared to have failed to show empathy toward Hogan's family, but Judge MacKenzie said she believed his remorse was sincere.

William's lawyer, Nicola Graham, had earlier said that Williams and his employer had expressed their remorse to the family through the police but unfortunately this had not been passed on.

Patanasiri said Williams had previous convictions – careless driving and drink-driving in 1993 – and had committed driving offenses before and after the fatal crash. Three offenses in 2023, including mobile phone use and speeding, occurred while he was on bail.

Patanasiri said Justice MacKenzie Williams' offenses indicated a “cavalier” attitude to driving.

Judge MacKenzie said she set aside the 2023 offenses because they post-dated the crash and previous convictions were irrelevant because they were from 31 years ago.

She highlighted that these were her eight offences, including using a mobile phone while driving in 2019 and exceeding 90 km/h while driving a heavy vehicle in 2022.

She recognized the significant impact Hogan's death had on her whānau.

“The trauma had a significant ripple effect on whānau. Ms. Paul-Hogan's world collapsed, the children suffered. I'm impressed by Ms. Paul-Hogan's raw honesty about how things got out of hand for her.

Justice MacKenzie accepted Williams' offer to immediately pay the whānau $10,000 in reparations, but also ordered a further $10,000 to be paid at the rate of $100 per week. However, she said she would “leave it to your conscience” whether that money could be repaid more quickly.

Judge MacKenzie said it was not about “encrypting” Hogan's life or giving Williams a lesser sentence, but rather about making things easier for Paul-Hogan and his family.

After Williams was sentenced and left the courtroom, Judge MacKenzie addressed the family in the public gallery, saying she hoped they would find closure.

“It is always very difficult to determine a sentence in a case like this, because a sentence never matches the loss. I'am aware. I can't bring back Mr. Hogan, a man who was clearly much loved and a wonderful human being. »

Kelly Makiha is a veteran journalist who has worked for the Rotorua Daily Post for over 25 years, primarily covering police, courts, human interests and social issues.