Jacinda Sione-Lauaki, 19, was killed in a crash on Christmas Eve, 2022.
“I’ll call you back, my ride’s here,” were the last words a teenager said to her stepmother before hanging up the phone to catch the ride she had arranged with a sober driver on Christmas Eve.
But within five minutes, the promising young woman had her life taken from her in a devastating accident caused by her boyfriend’s father Duanne Towgood who driving too fast and high on methamphetamine.
This week the Towgood, 45, was sentenced for causing death while impaired with a class A drug and dangerous driving causing the death of 19-year-old, Jacinda Sione-Lauaki.
At the Whangārei District Court, the teen’s beloved family members gave emotional impact statements about the devastation of losing their girl who had an infectious laugh.
“She was my best friend and so much more, she had the voice of an angel, a laugh so infectious it brought light to the darkest days. Her being gone has left a silence that deafens my soul. Rest remains elusive, overshadowed by haunting memories of her vibrant presence,” mother Danielle Thatcher said in court.
“We have lost the most loving, caring, dedicated daughter, she could have everyone laughing until their cheeks hurt, she was only just starting her life. His selfish reckless driving took our girl, and his desire to drive fast took her life. They had been responsible. Calling a sober driver, they put their trust in him,” a woman called Jo, was described in court as her second mother, said in her statement.
Her father Jared Sione-Lauaki said he was “living every father’s nightmare daily”.
“He has no respect for other’s lives, showing off to look cool. He was a 40-year-old man who should have known better. He is a murderer.”
The court heard on December 24, 2022, Sione-Lauaki had spent the day with her sister Sharney, Christmas shopping for their boyfriends.
Her partner and the “love of her life” was Towgood’s son.
“She was having a really bad day and so was I so I picked her up and spent the day with her shopping. When I left her we said ‘I love you’ to each other,” Sharney said in her victim impact statement.
Later that evening, the teen was drinking at a local skatepark with friends when they called her boyfriend’s father to pick them up as they were too intoxicated to drive.
She was on the phone with her “second mother”, her father’s partner Jo, when Towgood arrived to pick them up and told her she would call her back as her ride was there. That call never came though.
As they were heading towards Ōtaika Rd through Kotātā Rise in Morningside, Towgood was speeding at 80km/h when he took a bend too fast, hit a kerb and rolled the car down a hill multiple times.
The car came to rest on Sione-Lauaki and she died at the scene.
When police arrived, Towgood failed a roadside impairment test and was overheard saying “I was going too fast around the corner.”
Blood tests came back with methamphetamine and cannabis present in his system which Towgood claimed, was from 12 hours earlier.
Judge Keith de Ridder did not accept that argument and said the fact he failed roadside showed he was too impaired to drive.
“Although you say you consumed it earlier that day, it must have been a lot because you were clearly impaired.
“The speed involved was way too fast for that corner, made worse by what you say was a fault in the vehicle, you carried on regardless.”
Judge de Ridder acknowledged the bravery of all victims who put pen to paper to express their grief, especially the ones who chose to read their impact statements at sentencing.
“The victims demonstrate the devastating effects of the loss of this young woman. It is clear, their grief is raw, deep and continues which would only be expected.”
Towgood had a long history of methamphetamine and driving charges dating back to 2002 with his most recent possession of meth charge in 2020.
He has been in and out of rehabilitation over the years and told the court from the dock “I hate myself for what I’ve done.”
Judge de Ridder sentenced Towgood to two years and four months’ imprisonment and disqualified him from driving.
Shannon Pitman is a Whangārei-based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the Te Tai Tokerau region. She is of Ngāpuhi/ Ngāti Pūkenga descent and has worked in digital media for the past five years. She joined NZME in 2023.