Meth-smoking driver fell asleep at the wheel before car hit tree at 95kph, killing passenger
Tuesday, 14 July 2026
A motorist who smoked methamphetamine hours before driving into a tree, killing a passenger and injuring two others, previously encouraged sober driving after causing a serious crash in 2020.
Carl Raymond Trower pleaded guilty in the Christchurch District Court on Monday to drug driving causing death and twice causing injury.
He was driving about 95kph when he fell asleep on Karaka Rd (State Highway 7) while travelling from Nelson to Christchurch with three passengers about 6.30am on February 13, the summary of facts said.
This caused the 2004 Nissan Tiida he was driving to veer left off the road, crash through a deer fence and into a large pine tree, past the intersection with Mt Alexander Rd.
The car instantly stopped, spun 180 degrees airborne and landed with its tyres facing the road. Two members of the public witnessed the crash.
Trower got out of the car and walked about 75m away - which he would later put down to being disoriented and panicked - before people found him.
Emergency services pronounced the front passenger, Kayla Reynish, dead at the scene, and took both rear passengers and Trower to Christchurch Hospital.
Damien Whitlow, who was in the rear right seat, sustained life-threatening injuries including broken bones and dislocations that required multiple surgeries.
Chanelle Graham-Ashby, in the rear left, lost consciousness and sustained post-traumatic amnesia, alongside bruising and abrasions to her body.
Blood analysis revealed Trower had 320 nanograms of methamphetamine per millilitre of blood, more than six times the “high-risk” level of 50 nanograms. He said he smoked the drug about five hours before driving and used it daily.
Trower was also on his learner driver licence, held 105 demerit points, and was not accompanied by a suitably qualified person with a full driver licence.
He told authorities the group were travelling overnight from Nelson to Christchurch and he offered to take over driving from Reynish after noticing she was becoming restless and agitated.
“The defendant said he was fatigued, had not eaten properly, and ‘ended up falling asleep’ while driving. He stated that when he woke, the vehicle was already leaving the roadway and going down the hill,” the summary said.
“He said he was disoriented, panicked, and ran from the vehicle due to ‘fight or flight’ instincts… He said that looking back, he regretted the decision to drive and would ‘think about it every day’.”
Judge Raoul Neave convicted Trower and scheduled his sentencing for November.
Trower was imprisoned for 13 months for dangerous driving in 2021, after crashing into thick concrete barriers in Manawatū Gorge when he accelerated above 100kph and missed signs that the road was closed.
His passenger, Milton Reriti, was flown to hospital with a traumatic brain injury. He remained in a coma for weeks, needed part of his skull removed, suffered a fractured vertebra, and required a tilt wheelchair to move, Stuff reported at the time.
Trower had methamphetamine in his system and previously told Stuff he was plagued with guilt about Reriti. He said he now encouraged sober driving.
In 2023, Trower was imprisoned for two years and nine months after he helped terrorise a family during an aggravated robbery in Richmond, near Nelson, wearing Black Power patches.
He will be sentenced for his latest crash in November.