Stephen Graeme Burton was sentenced on Tuesday. Photo: RNZ/Samantha Gee
The partner of a builder killed by an electric shock from an unearthed kitchen appliance in Nelson has spoken of the devastation of losing her soulmate to an electrician's incompetence.
Stephen Graeme Burton, 60, was sentenced on Tuesday to eight months home detention and ordered to pay $150,000 to the family of builder Craig Johnston.
The 53-year-old died from a cardiac arrhythmia after he was electrocuted by an incorrectly wired rangehood at a Nelson property in March 2020.
A month earlier, Burton had installed a new rangehood and fan in the kitchen of the same home. He was found, at a judge-alone trial at the Nelson District Court in November, to have failed to properly test the socket outlet - which would have revealed it was live and not properly earthed.
The charge of carrying out electrical work in a manner that was dangerous to life was brought by WorkSafe under the Electricity Act.
At the trial, Burton claimed someone else had changed the wiring, and that he had tested his work as required - claims Judge David Ruth called untenable.
Johnston, who owned and operated a handyman business under the Hire-a-Hubby franchise, had been employed to build a casing around a rangehood in the Nelson home.
The property owner returned home to find Johnston unresponsive on the floor. One of his shoes had come off, both his hands were clenched and the rangehood was partially hanging from the ceiling. An ambulance was called, but Johnston was pronounced dead at the scene.
His partner of 35 years, Ruth McAlpine, said Johnston was the cornerstone of their family - a funny, passionate, hard-working, well-loved, and capable man. Together with son Jamie, the family had emigrated to New Zealand from Scotland in 2009.
She told the court Burton was responsible for her partner's death - and that his failure to check the socket wiring was no accident.
"He had a choice to do his job properly. There are rules and regulations within the law that have to be followed because everyone knows the dangers of electricity, but Burton chose not to bother with this ... resulting in killing Craig."
She said it had been four years of hell and a fight for survival without Johnston, who had been the main provider for their family. After his death, she had to take control of the business and sell both it and the house they had recently bought and planned to renovate.
"I feel we are the ones being punished for something that never should have happened.
"Sometimes on a cold winter's day, with grey skies like Scotland, I feel lost and all I want to hear is his laugh. I would give anything in the world to hear his laugh again."
She said it had been soul-destroying to see Burton in his work van driving around Nelson over the past few years, carrying on with his life.
McAlpine had declined to meet Burton at a restorative justice meeting, as there was "nothing he could possibly say that would make me hate him less".
Jamie Johnston had been completing an electrical apprenticeship at the time of his father's death, but said he had since given it up.
"Why on earth would I want to carry on in this career with what happened to my father?
"I see only a coward with the audacity to call himself a professional deny his own wrongdoings ... I'm disgusted by the thought that this man could still be performing any kind of electrical work."
Acting for WorkSafe, prosecutor Dennis Dow said Burton had installed a socket outlet in an electrically unsafe manner, failed to undertake mandatory testing and refused to acknowledge any responsibility for his failings - even in the face of unrefuted expert evidence.
"They were mistakes that were easily avoidable, they were mistakes that should not have happened."
Defence lawyer Michael Vesty said the past four years had also been traumatic for Burton's family. He was a man of good character who had no disciplinary record prior to March 2020, which was likely to see him removed from the Electrical Workers Registration Board.
"There has been a fall from grace for Mr Burton and that will continue ... he will lose his career, lose his business and lose any realistic ability to draw an income."
In sentencing, Judge David Ruth said Burton's initial failure to remove a switch plate to check the wiring had been pivotal as it would have revealed that the earth wire was not correctly connected and was operating as a live wire.
"Had you taken that preliminary, very obvious and simple step, which probably required the removal of four or five screws, all of this might well have been avoided.
"You seem to me to have shown an indifference to your responsibilities under the Act."
Judge Ruth set a starting point for the sentence of 20 months in prison, with a 20 percent discount for previous good character, leading to a final sentence of eight months home detention.
Burton was ordered to make an immediate payment of $50,000, with the remaining $100,000 to be paid after the sale of other assets.
Judge Ruth said it was important to send a message to others prepared to cut corners that the court would act decisively against such practices.
