The Star: November 09, 2023
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<strong>The</strong> <strong>Star</strong> Thursday <strong>November</strong> 9 <strong>2023</strong><br />
8<br />
COURT<br />
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz<br />
Double fatal crash father on trial for<br />
• By Emily Moorhouse<br />
A FATHER has been accused of<br />
encouraging dangerous driving<br />
after a family gathering that led<br />
to a collision causing the death of<br />
his son and another young man.<br />
Mark Nicholl was dining with<br />
family and friends at a bar in<br />
Halswell when he and his family<br />
members allegedly began street<br />
racing, leading to a double fatal<br />
collision that not only claimed<br />
two lives but also left two of his<br />
other sons seriously injured.<br />
<strong>The</strong> 55-year-old is on trial in<br />
the district court facing two<br />
charges of being a party to<br />
dangerous driving causing death<br />
and one of dangerous driving<br />
causing injury.<br />
His son Mark Nicholl jnr,<br />
30, and family friend William<br />
Clark, 29 were both killed while<br />
another son Jayden Nicholl was<br />
seriously injured. A third son<br />
Shanan Nicholl suffered a traumatic<br />
brain injury.<br />
Shanan originally faced the<br />
same charges as his father but<br />
was considered unfit to stand<br />
trial due to his brain injury and<br />
was discharged.<br />
Nicholl senior’s nephew Ricky<br />
Nicholl was also involved and<br />
has pleaded guilty to the same<br />
charges, as well as a charge of<br />
attempting to pervert the course<br />
of justice by swapping seats with<br />
another man following the crash.<br />
COLLISION: <strong>The</strong> crash site where Mark Nicholl Jnr and his friend William Clark were killed.<br />
PHOTO: GEORGE HEARD/NZ HERALD<br />
Prosecutor Christina Hallaway<br />
opened the case describing the<br />
collision between a Subaru and<br />
ute that resulted in the “avoidable”<br />
deaths of two young men.<br />
It is the Crown’s case that although<br />
Nicholl senior wasn’t the<br />
driver of the Subaru at the time<br />
of the crash, he “intentionally encouraged”<br />
the driver, Shanan, to<br />
drive dangerously and therefore,<br />
he can be held liable under the<br />
term “party liability”.<br />
Hallaway said on the evening<br />
of September 25, 2021, about<br />
midday Nicholl senior and his<br />
family and friends were dining<br />
at Armadillos in Halswell before<br />
leaving in a group just before<br />
7.30pm.<br />
Nicholl snr, Nicholl jnr,<br />
Shanan Nicholl, Jayden Nicholl,<br />
Ricky Nicholl, William Clark<br />
and Matthew Gibbons were<br />
among those who left in four<br />
cars, travelling in a convoy.<br />
As the group travelled towards<br />
the Halswell Junction and Shands<br />
Rd intersection they began<br />
racing, overtaking one another,<br />
breaking heavily at traffic lights<br />
and speeding excessively when<br />
they turned green, the Crown<br />
alleged.<br />
During this time, she alleged<br />
some of the men jumped out of<br />
the driver’s seat and climbed into<br />
the passenger seat, taking turns<br />
racing each other.<br />
As the convoy approached the<br />
Halswell Junction and Shands<br />
Rd intersection, the Jeep, driven<br />
by Ricky, went speeding ahead<br />
and began “fishtailing”, appearing<br />
to have lost control, according<br />
to a witness.<br />
From the other side of the<br />
road, approaching the intersection<br />
was a couple in a ute towing<br />
a trailer. <strong>The</strong>y were travelling<br />
home from the Halswell New<br />
World at about 7.30pm and<br />
both described hearing a loud<br />
screeching as they approached<br />
the intersection.<br />
As the couple looked around<br />
to see where the screeching was<br />
coming from, they described seeing<br />
the Jeep fishtailing towards<br />
them.<br />
As they watched the Jeep, they<br />
were hit head-on by the Subaru,<br />
allegedly driven by Shanan,<br />
which had spun out of control<br />
and was travelling sideways<br />
towards them.<br />
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