A protest staged at Auckland International Airport last night resulted in the arrest of a man, part of a group opposing the early departure of a woman who killed Bay of Plenty motorcyclist Rhys Middleton.
Rhy's father Mike Middleton was left disappointed a legal loophole meant the woman who was convicted in the Napier District Court for the death of his son was able to leave New Zealand without serving her sentence.
"We wanted to show her it's not acceptable for tourists to come here and kill our people," said Mr Middleton.
Chinese national, Jieling Xiao, 27, caused the death of Rhys Middleton, 23, in a Waitangi Weekend crash on State Highway 5 just north of Napier and was sentenced in June to 17 months in jail.
This week her appeal to reduce the sentence was successful and she was given the lesser sentence of nine months' home detention and 150 hours' community work.