A Hawke's Bay man has been ordered to pay $1000 emotional harm reparation after a fatal crash near Maraekakaho which claimed the life of his nephew.
Twenty-year-old Sol Kim received massive head injuries and later died in hospital after he was thrown from a van containing seven family members on January
14.
Kim's uncle, Cua Thach, 46, was yesterday sentenced in Hastings District Court over the incident, in which he lost control of the van.
He had been driving the Toyota Hiace on Kereru Rd about 5.30pm before the back wheels hit an unsealed verge, forcing him to over-correct before the van rolled several time.
As it rolled, five members of his family were thrown out and ended up on the road.
In addition to Kim's fatal injuries, three other family members, including Thach's sister, a niece and nephew, also suffered broken bones during the accident.
Thach, who had been in New Zealand since 1999, pleaded guilty to six charges of careless driving causing injury, and one of careless driving causing death. His 18-year-old daughter, who was also injured in the crash, interpreted for her father while he stood in the dock.
Counsel Richard Stone said Thach had sponsored his nephew and other members of the family to come out from Vietnam. All had been working on a nearby orchard before the accident.
"It's a situation that would usually be dealt with by Restorative Justice, but the family have dealt with it themselves in this case," Mr Stone said. He said Thach was on ACC as a result of head and hand injuries suffered in the accident.
He admitted his client had panicked and turned hard, yet also argued older vans of the type were prone to rolling.
Judge Bridget Mackintosh described the accident as a "tragedy", and acknowledged the family had rallied together since the accident. "Sometimes tragedies happen and that's what happened in this particular instance," she said. "I don't see this as a case where a particularly punitive sentence should be imposed by the court."
It was difficult to nominate an emotional harm figure as most of the victims were family, she said.
Thach was also fined $200 for each of the six less serious charges and disqualified for eight months.
