• Driver Megat Ashman Aquif bin Megat Irman Jefni crossed the centreline and crashed after having only three hours of sleep the previous night.
• Coroner Alexandra Cunninghame cited fatigue as a key factor.
• The crash killed four people, including Megat.

A driver at fault in a crash that killed four people had three hours of sleep the night before and had been given a neck massage by a passenger to keep him awake.

A crash investigator said Megat Ashman Aquif bin Megat Irman Jefni may have been having a “microsleep” when he crossed the centreline and crashed on the Tekapo-Twizel road last year.

The 21-year-old and one of his four passengers, 20-year-old Adlina Alisa Wan, died as a result of the crash.

Megat’s Mitsubishi hit a Lexus going the other way, killing its front-seat passenger, Gavin James William Beere, 85.

Phillip Wayne Woodham, a 71-year-old motorcyclist behind the Lexus, also died after losing control of his Harley-Davidson and sliding into the vehicles that collided.

Emergency services at the scene of the crash. Photo / Supplied

Woodham, a former soldier, was seen standing and walking immediately after the crash, but then collapsed and could not be resuscitated.

Megat and Adlina were in a group of Malaysian students at the University of Canterbury who left Christchurch in three vehicles for a Queenstown holiday over the Easter weekend break last year.

Megat was the only one of the five in the rented Mitsubishi who had a full driver’s licence.

On the night before the March 30 crash, Megat had been out playing badminton until around midnight, was heard talking in the early hours of the morning, and was woken around 6.30am to go and get the rental vehicle.

During the drive, the group in the Mitsubishi talked about when they had gone to bed the previous night.

One of them later gave evidence to Coroner Alexandra Cunninghame that Megat “made it clear to us in the morning ... that he had only had three hours of sleep”.

Phillip Woodham was a former soldier and a member of the Patriots motorcycle club, which comprises current and former members of the NZ Defence Force.

This person also said that Megat said he was feeling sleepy and “I remember reaching over and giving him a neck massage to help him stay awake”.

Another of the group said that Megat was “adamant” that he should keep driving.

A motorist who witnessed the crash said the Mitsubishi crossed the centreline, then cut back in but overcorrected and flipped, rolling down the centreline towards the oncoming traffic.

It hit the front of the Lexus, and Woodham lost control of his motorcycle and slid into the back of the Lexus.

Everyone did their best to assist

The motorist, who had first-aid training, stopped to assist, as did an off-duty firefighter and a family in a campervan who had been in front of the Lexus.

“The statements from the various witnesses to the accident set out in detail how everyone who came across the accident did their best to assist in traumatic circumstances.”

Coroner Cunninghame said the weather was fine and the road was dry.

None of the vehicles had any mechanical faults. Speed was not considered a factor. The drivers all had appropriate licences.

“Megat’s failure to remain in the southbound lane was a causative factor of the crash,” she said.

“It is likely that Megat was affected by fatigue which caused a momentary loss of concentration after he had negotiated a bend in the road.”

A member of the police Serious Crash Unit said it was possible Megat was experiencing a “microsleep”, which can last between three and 14 seconds, at the time he crossed out of his lane.

The coroner said the Lexus driver and Woodham were “not in any way at fault” but had the misfortune to be coming towards the Mitsubishi when Megat crossed the centreline.

“This terrible accident is yet another reminder of the danger of driving while tired,” Cunninghame said.

“Megat chose to make a drive of several hours when he had three hours' sleep the night before, and after remarking to others that he was tired,” she said.

“The evidence suggests that Megat was the only one in the Mitsubishi who was licensed to drive it.

“While this explains why he was determined to continue, he should not have been driving."

The coroner found that Megat and Adlina both died from blunt-force head injuries as a result of the crash.

Woodham died from a collapsed lung complicating a blunt-force chest injury.

Beere died the next day in Christchurch Hospital with serious chest and spinal injuries that might have been survivable for a fit, young person.

Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME’s Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke’s Bay.