A young man who caused the death of an RSE worker while driving a van on the Napier-Taupō highway has been convicted and disqualified from driving for 12 months.
Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King
Nicholas Timothy Yorke, 20, appeared in the Napier District Court today.
An application for a discharge without conviction was declined.
Nearly a year and a half ago on 19 October 2020, Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) workers from Thornhill, a Hawke's Bay-based viticultural and horticultural employment company, were travelling in a three van convoy from Hastings to Taupō for a holiday.
Yorke was driving the third van and Tino Tagiilima, a 37-year-old RSE worker from Samoa, was in the passenger seat. Eight others were in the van.
They were stopping at the Tarawera Cafe, about an hour from Napier.
The two vans ahead of him had turned right the cafe. Yorke stopped on the side of the road, about to turn right into the cafe.
As he started turning, a truck carrying wine tankers came up from behind and collided with Yorke's van.
The truck after the collision with the defendant's van. Photo: RNZ/ Tom Kitchin
Tagiilima, a father of five, died in the crash. Two were critically injured and eight others suffered serious or moderate injuries.
Defence counsel Nicola Graham applied for a discharge without conviction, as Yorke was a promising footballer who wanted to play overseas.
"He is making the most of his second chance of life. He has great support from the football community, with his employer and also with his family.
"This will be two convictions for a 19-year-old, for what was a very small or quick lapse in judgement.''
Graham said an international football coach mentioned Yorke had a real prospect of playing football overseas and a conviction could hinder his prospects with the clubs.
But crown prosecutor Clayton Walker said these convictions would be unlikely to have an impact on career opportunities.
He said Yorke's failure to look behind him was serious enough for a conviction.
"That failure, sadly, was a fundamental and elementary error, likely due to inexperience.''
The injured men rejected any reparational or emotional harm funds, and Yorke gave $5000 of his own money to Tagiilima's widow when she was struggling.
Judge Gordon Matenga called the offending a "serious error of judgement".
"You either failed to look into your rear-view mirror or over your right shoulder or both and the consequence, you were not aware there was a truck coming up immediately behind you," he told Yorke.
"The consequences of that choice were catastrophic. It caused your vehicle to be shunted forward and to the left and caused crash damage to your vehicle, injuring everyone in the van, causing the death of Mr Tagiilima."
In November, Yorke pleaded guilty to charges of careless use of a motor vehicle causing death and injury.
This is the most recent fatal crash on the notorious stretch of highway. Nine people died on the highway between 2019 and 2020.
Police and Waka Kotahi launched a campaign after the spate of crashes, and there have been no fatal crashes since that campaign began.
A new 80-km speed limit has been in place on the road for nearly a month. This has caused much controversy in the local community.