Leon Mason

1974-2007.

Leon watched his friends Simon Short and Toni Purchase die, then died later in hospital. They were killed by Gordon  Manu Armstrong (53), a speeding drunk who crashed into the three friends who were out enjoying a Sunday motorbike ride.

Armstrong was convicted for drink driving in 1986, 1997, in 2000 he was indefinitely disqualified. After completing the mandatory disqualification period and drug and alcohol counselling, he never renewed his licence. Instead he drove without a license from that time, being convicted again in 2004.

Armstrong died some days after the crash. Despite being drunk and speeding, he had children from his family in the car with him, aged five, seven and eight. Armstrong was not wearing a seatbelt.

Leon’s partner Jos Mason has founded New Zealand’s Bikers Against Drunk Driving. She has been unrelenting in her efforts educate New Zealanders about the tragedy of drunk driving. In 2008 she is planning events to highlight the issues. Please click on BADD’s poster below to see their web site.

Jos says “We are sharing our roads every day with potential killers driving leathal weapons, and it is not okay."

The following is a message from Jos about Leon:

"My friends, family and I will never again get to feel the love and warmth from his kind eyes.

We will never feel the glow from his huge smile.
I will never again feel the strength from his strong hands.
We will never feel the care from his huge heart and never again benefit from his practical and valuable advice.
We will not laugh again the way Leon made us laugh.

My family, friends and I can never forgive or forget the devastation and the horror caused at the hands of this man. This feels as if someone has invaded our home and murdered him – due to the irresponsibility of the family failing to care for and restrain this man from driving.

We would be horrified to think that the family, knowing his history, knew that he had been drinking with their children in the car.

However I do hope his son and Grandchildren never have to relive what they survived through and thank god this man at least strapped the children in – even though it’s fairly obvious he did not care for himself or his family or for three strangers enjoying a Sunday morning ride.

This is our nightmare we won’t be waking from.

If anything this should teach us all to be good and kind to each other and for friends and family to look out for one another.

It’s not just the drink driving penalties that need to be looked at but our driving in general, we must slow down, watch what we’re doing, think, and be a lot more courteous.

Leon, Big Si and Toni should not die in vain.

For Leon – surviving the impact and then only passing away due to complications with surgery is in itself a testimony to his strength. We know he could have survived.  His strength will live on through our next journey

As Leon’s wife I can tell you first hand the kind of man he was

Keywords are:
Handsome, Kind, Charming, Caring, Cheeky, Helpful, Considerate, Non Judgmental, Patient, Wicked Wit, Quick Thinking, Problem Solver, Mentor, Intelligent, Committed, Fun, Courageous, Lover of Music and Dancing, Ford supporter even when Ford had its bad times and he was alone in the Holden crowd …

He never wavered... 

He was a neat guy.

It breaks my heart that his sons and I will never again have the benefit of his love, patience, fun and wisdom.

For those of you that have been touched by Leon personally, there are some great stories – hold onto them, share them and never let them go.”