Westfield Tuggerah drunk driver Neil Hutchison jailed after crushing three women
Neil Hutchison will have nearly five years to get off the grog after being jailed for a horror crash in the Westfield Tuggerah car park, which left three women badly injured.
Central Coast
Don't miss out on the headlines from Central Coast. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A “cowardly and reckless” drunk driver who crushed three women between cars in an unregistered, uninsured mini van at the Westfield Tuggerah car park — after going to buy grog — has been jailed for a minimum of four years and eight months.
Former dentist Neil Hutchison faced Gosford District Court today where he was also fined $3000, disqualified from driving until 2030 and ordered to pay one victim more than $21,500 in compensation.
The 52-year-old, of Mardi, was convicted after pleading guilty to two counts of aggravated dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm, causing bodily harm by misconduct and destroying property.
Several other charges — including driving while disqualified, high-range drink-driving and driving an unregistered, uninsured car — were taken into account at sentencing.
The court heard Hutchison became a dentist before immigrating to Australia in 1991 but was forced to retire for medical reasons in 2015 when he became a full-blown alcoholic.
“He was drinking three bottles of wine a day and hiding his drinking from others,” Judge David Wilson said.
About 5.40pm on March 26 last year Hutchison drove his unregistered, uninsured silver Mitsubishi Nimbus to the upper Coles car park.
Judge Wilson said he parked next to an airconditioning vent rather than a marked space and CCTV showed he walked into Liquor Land where he purchased more alcohol.
The court heard he returned to his Nimbus but instead of putting the vehicle in drive he put it in reverse and drove “at speed” at two sisters, aged 14 and 18, who were loading groceries into their car.
The force of the impact shunted the girls’ car into another parked car pinning a woman, 40, who was trying to unclip her toddler from his seat.
Hutchison then put the Nimbus into drive and drove a further 34m before ploughing into three more parked cars.
He was breath tested at the scene and recorded a blood alcohol reading of 0.278 before recording an official reading of 0.175 some time later in hospital.
The older sister spent six weeks in a wheelchair and eight months “fighting to walk again” after her pelvis was shattered in four places along with two fractured lower vertebrae.
She had six screws inserted and a plate to hold her pubic bone together meaning she will likely never be able to give birth naturally.
The court heard her younger sister was also injured while the 40-year-old female victim had shattered teeth and badly injured knees, which have had one surgery and may require another.
Hutchinson told police his shoelace became tangled around a pedal, which prevented him from taking his foot off the accelerator.
“The offender maintained for some time that it was his shoelace … that explanation to me seems ludicrous,” Judge Wilson said.
The judge said the suggestion Hutchison understood the extent of his offending, while maintaining his line about the shoelace was “complete rubbish” and only “gave up” when questioned by the court.
Judge Wilson said it was only then he admitted: “I was drunk, I was too drunk to drive”.
“I find the offender a most unimpressive witness,” Judge Wilson said.
“[He was] a reckless alcoholic who caused injury to members of the community simply going about their actions.”
Judge Wilson said his offending was “a personal desire to consume more alcohol when he was already heavily intoxicated”.
“The recklessness of that conduct is rarely seen,” Judge Wilson said.
The court heard Hutchison was on good behaviour bonds at the time for two prior high-range drink-driving offences.
Judge Wilson sentenced Hutchison to seven years jail with a non-parole period of four years and eight months.
With time served since his arrest on March 27, 2018, he will be eligible for release on November 26, 2022.