Parolee blamed rabbit for meth-fuelled crash that sent him back to prison

A man with a 44-year conviction history was on parole when he used methamphetamine, drove, and crashed.

He blamed the accident on trying to avoid a rabbit on the road.

Peter Coulsen is now back in prison for the crash, in which he was more than twice the high-risk level for methamphetamine, threatening family members over their inheritance after his mother’s death, and stealing a $42,000 vehicle from a yard.

Coulsen, 61, was sentenced in the Nelson District Court on 10 charges arising from events beginning late last year and accelerating after his mother’s death in February this year.

She was considered his primary support person and her death had deeply affected him, Judge Tony Snell said.

About 4am on December 20 last year, Coulsen was driving on the coastal highway in Tasman when he failed to negotiate a slight bend, went off the road, up a bank and rolled his vehicle.

He was taken to Nelson Hospital, where a blood sample showed he was more than twice the high-risk level for methamphetamine, at 130 nanograms per millilitre of blood.

Under the Land Transport Act, 50ng/ml is considered a “high-risk blood concentration” of the drug.

He was also found with cannabis in his system, but below the high-risk level of 3ng/ml.

Judge Snell said he did not accept Coulsen’s story that a rabbit appeared, he took fright and steered off the road.

Coulsen was still on parole, having been released months earlier after serving prison time for causing grievous harm.

His release conditions prohibited him from using drugs, Judge Snell noted.

Coulsen’s sentence included a theft charge after he was seen on CCTV taking $16 in coins from laundry machines at a Richmond motel.

The theft of a new $42,600 Suzuki Jimny from a maintenance yard in Blenheim in April, when he noticed the keys were still in it, formed the lead charge.

Police found the vehicle in Seddon, south of Blenheim, and charged Coulsen after finding the keys in his bag.

Days earlier, he threatened a family member over the phone when discussing his mother’s estate.

He threatened to burn down the workshop of a second victim, a retired volunteer whose workshop contained items of significant importance.

“The whole idea you would burn that down deeply affected him. He considered you were dangerous and unpredictable,” Judge Snell said.

He noted Coulsen’s wish to apologise to his victims and his need for reintegration into the community, but said the public needed to be protected.

Judge Snell said the two most significant aggravating factors in the case were that Coulsen was on parole at the time, and therefore still serving a sentence, and was also on bail.

He sentenced Coulsen to 17 and a half months’ imprisonment.

Coulsen was urged to stop taking drugs, stop offending and to turn his life around.

“You’re not a young man, you’re not even a middle-aged man. You have limited years left and, if you don’t want to spend them in prison, you need to make dramatic changes,” Judge Snell said.

“If your mum had one wish, it would be that you had a better life moving forward.”

Coulsen was ordered to pay $1000 in reparation to the owner of the stolen vehicle.

Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She was previously RNZ’s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered general news, including court and local government for the Nelson Mail.