By Amanda Gillies
A former top traffic officer and a witness have described a judge's comments in court this week as reckless and misguided.
Judge Raoul Neave sentenced banker Guy Hallwright to 250 hours community service after he ran over a driver during a road-rage incident. He said Hallwright had a spotless reputation and questioned why he was before him.
From his pizza parlour window, Giampiero De Falco watched Sung Jin Kim being run over by Guy Hallwright.
He watched Hallwright flee the scene and went to Mr Kim's aid.
He later gave evidence in court, and assumed, after Hallwright was found guilty, he would be jailed.
The maximum penalty for the crime is seven years.
“Obviously not seven years, but probably six months, eight months [I thought he would be jailed],” says Mr De Falco. “He must do something due to the severity of the whole thing. It was such a let down when I read it in the paper – unbelievable. I just couldn't believe it.”
Hallwright was this week sentenced to 250 hours community service, ordered to pay Mr Kim $20,000 and disqualified from driving for 18 months.
Mr De Falco also took exception to the judge describing Hallwright as an impeccable character with a spotless reputation.
“If he was such a pillar he wouldn't have left a guy with two broken legs in the middle of the road, go by him and run away.”
Hallwright did return to the scene after dropping his daughter off at a recording studio.
The judge found what he did was not a hit-and-run. He said the media's use of this description was inappropriate and irresponsible.
“What is the definition of hit-and-run?” asks witness Mr De Falco. “The words are very simple – hit, run. You hit someone and you run away. And that's exactly what happened.”
“It meets all the criteria of a hit-and-run,” says Stu Kearns, former head of the Serious Crash Unit and a traffic cop for nearly 30 years.
Mr Kearns was irked by the judge questioning why Hallwright was before him.
“Indeed I have wondered at some length as to whether or not if this had been an encounter with two teenage boys in the back streets of Manukau we would be here today,” says Judge Neave.
“I'd also question the judge, if he is making that comparison,” says former traffic cop Mr Kearns. “If those two teenage boys had injured the pillar of the community [I wonder] whether the sentencing would have been the same on that occasion.”
Mr Kearns said the police did not discriminate when laying charges. Teenagers from Manukau and bankers from Parnell were treated the same.
Guy Hallwright remains silent on the subject. 3 News asked him today if he wanted to give his side of the story and talk about the impact on his life. He declined.
3 News