R v Jones

The defendant, Jones, was convicted of manslaughter after he and Erka Xu went fishing off the north Taranaki coastline in an inflatable rubber boat. The pair were thrown out of the craft when they re-crossed the Waitara bar and Xu drowned. Jones pleaded guilty to the charge of manslaughter, which required him to accept that he had caused Xu’s death by failing to take reasonable precautions against, or to use reasonable care to avoid endangering his life. The failure to take precautions amounted to a major departure from the standard of care expected of a reasonable person. The court heard evidence that Jones had a brain injury which affected his ability to make quick shifts of mindset, cope with unexpected situations, and led to him being more prone to anxiety and panic. Jones’s brain injury was found to be a mitigating factor in the offending. The court rejected Jones’s application for discharge without conviction on the basis that the consequences of a conviction were not disproportionate. The court accepted that Jones was remorseful and had provided great service to various communities in which he had lived as a music teacher, band leader and choir master. Jones was sentenced to pay reparations of $5,000 to Xu’s widow.

The court considered the gravity of the offending, the consequences of the conviction, and whether those consequences were disproportionate. The court found that the gravity of the offending was very serious, but Jones’s failures were omissions to take proper precautions rather than an active wrongdoing. The court also considered the consequences of the conviction, including the potential impact on Jones’s international travel and his teaching career. The court found that the consequences of the conviction were not disproportionate and dismissed the application for discharge without conviction. The court concluded that public acknowledgement of Jones’s responsibility for Xu’s death through the entry of a conviction was a proportionate response to the reality of the situation.

Jones was sentenced to pay reparations of $5,000 to Xu’s widow, Hou Huijing. The court considered that community work would add little to the satisfaction of the community and that reparations would be of practical assistance to Hou and her daughter at a difficult time in their lives. The court ordered that Jones make such payments as and when he was able.