Te Pou, 23, whose right leg was in a full-length cast as he drove, reached speeds of between 80km/h and 120km/h in a 50km/h zone. Police abandoned a pursuit because of the way he was driving.
He sped through a red light shortly before crashing in Shakespeare Rd after cutting in front of a taxi to avoid a collision with an oncoming vehicle.
In the High Court at Napier on Friday, Te Pou wept and wiped his eyes with a tissue as he pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of his cousin, Harmony Te Pou, and seven charges of reckless driving causing injury.
Several members of his family in the public gallery cried too.
Te Pou did not have a valid driver’s licence at the time of the crash, shortly before midnight on October 29 last year, having lost his learner’s licence after accruing too many demerit points.
Justice Francis Cooke remanded Te Pou in custody until a sentencing date in December. He ordered a referral to restorative justice.
A Crown summary of facts said the injured included Te Pou’s sister, two other cousins as well as Harmony, and Te Pou’s then partner, the mother of his three children.
“At various times during the [Halloween] party, many people told Mr Te Pou not to drive,” the summary said.
“They also attempted to remove his car keys from him. He chose to ignore these requests and refused to hand the keys over.”
Te Pou and his passengers left the party to go to nightclubs in Napier. One woman was lying across two people in the back seat and three others were in the boot space.
After Te Pou accelerated over a speed bump, several of the occupants told him to slow down.
“He ignored their requests. He continued to drive aggressively,” the summary said.
At a central city intersection, Te Pou, whose mobility was restricted by the cast on his leg, began slamming the car’s brakes off and on, jolting people in the car.
He avoided a T-bone crash with a police car only because the driver of the patrol car was able to brake in time.
In the brief pursuit by another police car, Te Pou sped through a red light. Analysis by a crash investigator estimated that he was driving between 71km/h and 127km/h in Hastings St before going up Shakespeare Rd.
“All of the victims in Mr Te Pou’s vehicle were screaming at him to stop and slow down. He continued to ignore them,” the summary said.
After the crash, Harmony Te Pou was found half out of the vehicle, lying partially on the road. She died at the scene of severe head injuries.
One of the injured suffered brain and spinal damage. He does not remember that Harmony, his girlfriend, died in the crash.
Te Pou’s then-partner is now paralysed from the waist down.
The summary said Te Pou had been drinking and taking methamphetamine, cannabis and MDMA at the party.
He was breath-tested by police, who arrived minutes after the crash. He blew 527 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath. The legal limit is 250.
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. His writing in the crime and justice sphere is informed by four years of front-line experience as a probation officer.
