Death of a community man: Killed by driver on four-day ‘meth binge’

Kevin Jagusch was a family man and a community man.

The 73-year-old Tauranga man loved his three adult sons, loved his grandkids, and loved his wife Pamela with whom he should have been celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary this year.

He also loved his community and for 35 years had been a very active member of the Otumoetai Lions club, and the National Lions organisation, for whom he was national distributor of Lion Mints, which raise funds for community projects around the country.

Google his name, and you’ll find a photo of him and a colleague gifting a washing machine they’d bought through fundraising for a breast cancer support service.

Kevin’s life was cut short around midday on June 22 last year by Jade Joseph Wihongi, who’d just been on a four-day methamphetamine binge and was driving at high speed when he slammed into the front of the couple’s car as they drove home from a holiday in Hawke’s Bay.

Wihongi, 47, was driving from Hamilton to his home in Wairoa.

As he made his way over the Napier-Taupō Road numerous witnesses saw his Holden Commodore driving at speeds of 130kph and overtaking vehicles in a dangerous manner, just ,managing to squeeze back into the correct lane before hitting oncoming vehicles.

At about 11.35 am, Wihongi was about 80km from Napier, when he drove around a sweeping right-hand bend and crossed the centre-line into the northbound lane, causing a vehicle travelling towards him to swerve onto the road shoulder in order to avoid a collision.

Seconds later Wihongi’s car struck a car that had been following the one that swerved, causing it to spin out of control and come to rest on the side of the road with significant damage and injuries to the driver.

It was then that Wihongi’s car, still in the wrong lane, smashed head-on into the Honda Jazz being driven by Pamela, with Kevin in the passenger’s seat beside her.

Kevin was removed unconscious from the car and CPR was performed on him until medical staff arrived on the scene, but he couldn’t be revived and died at the scene.

Pamela suffered serious injuries including a brain bleed, multiple broken ribs, extensive abdominal wall injury and deep open wounds to her legs. A rescue helicopter flew her and Wihongi to Hawke’s Bay Hospital.

Wihongi refused to provide a blood specimen, so police had to obtain a search warrant to access a specimen that had been taken by the hospital. It was found to contain methamphetamine, and he admitted taking the drug the night prior to the crash.

Wihongi pleaded guilty to a charge of dangerous driving causing death, two of dangerous driving causing injury, refusal to provide a blood specimen, possession of a pipe and using methamphetamine.

He was sentenced by Judge Richard Earwaker in the Napier District Court on Thursday.

Before sentencing took place the court heard victim impact statements read by Pamela and two of the couple’s sons, Dean and Blair, both of whom reside in th US and appeared by video link.

They spoke of the huge impact the loss of Kevin had had on the family, emotionally and financially, and the lasting impacts that would be felt by Pamela, who had been fit and health prior to the crash, but now suffered from fatigue, loss of feeling in arms and legs, and was still unable to return to full time work.

“Your decision to take meth and drive rests solely on your shoulders. Nobody made you do this. It was your decision alone,” Pamela told Wihongi.

“The day of the accident you took the love of my life,” she said through tears.

The brothers spoke of their love for their parents and the loss Wihongi had inflicted on themselves and their mother.

Dean outlined the impacts on his family and business and asked that Wihongi be held accountable for his actions “to the full extent of the law”.

Blair said his father’s death occurred on his birthday, and said every birthday would now be marked by the loss of his dad and the severe injuries suffered by his mum.

Wihongi’s lawyer Eric Forster said Wihongi, a truck driver, had spent the four days prior to the crash on a “methamphetamine binge” in which he had not slept. He accepted he should not have been driving and was remorseful.

Crown prosecutor Clayton Walker questioned the level of Wihongi’s remorse, noting he had never sent a letter of apology and a report writer had noted his lack of acknowledgement for his victims.

Judge Earwaker said it was very serious offending involving deliberately aggressive and dangerous driving, but alerted the Jagusch family that sentencing was bound by principles that included consideration of sentences for similar offending in the past and a requirement to impose the least restrictive sentence appropriate in the circumstances.

He jailed Wihongi for four years and disqualified him from driving for three years following his release.