The tragedy reignited calls for speed bumps on Settlers Way, Ōkaihau's main street. Photo / Google Maps
By Peter de Graaf of RNZ
A judge has described a Northland man’s driving in the moments before a high-speed, hit-and-run crash that killed a teenage cyclist as “a recipe for disaster”.
John Le Noel, 28, was sentenced on Friday in the Kaikohe District Court over the death last year of 19-year-old Matthew Howard on the street outside his home.
He was jailed for 33 months and disqualified from driving for two-and-a-half years.
The court was told CCTV captured Le Noel as his car crossed the centre line on State Highway 1, before turning into Settlers Way, the main street of Ōkaihau, just after 10pm on January 28, 2025.
Crash analysis showed Le Noel’s car was travelling at up to 117km/h in the 50km/h zone when Howard was hit.
The teen suffered horrific injuries and died shortly afterwards.
The car was extensively damaged, including a large hole punched through the windscreen.
The court was told Le Noel kept driving, stopped some distance away, saw people gathering at the crash scene, then drove to Horeke, where he abandoned the car.
He was identified by CCTV and picked up by police the following day, charged with dangerous driving causing death and failing to stop to ascertain injury.
Judge Michelle Howard-Sager said aggravating factors included the tragic loss of a life and the sustained period of bad driving.
“His speed also causes me significant concern,” she said. “He was travelling between 107-117km/h in a 50km/h zone.
“That is over double the speed limit and means that any ability Mr Le Noel might have had to avoid Matthew was taken away, because of such dangerous driving. It was a recipe for disaster.”
In fact, Judge Howard-Sager said Le Noel should not have been driving at all.
He had a restricted driver’s licence, which meant he should not have been driving unaccompanied after 10pm, and was not licensed to drive a manual vehicle.
The car had been without a Warrant of Fitness since 2019, the rear tyres were below minimum tread requirements and the registration had been put on hold.
The judge said Le Noel’s failure to stop was another major concern, given that it must have been obvious someone was seriously injured.
Even after he was identified and despite media publicity, he did not come forward, until police went knocking at his parents’ home.
Judge Howard-Sager said Howard’s death had a “profound effect” on his family.
Those who saw his body after the crash also suffered significant trauma, she said.
Defence lawyer Doug Blaikie said Le Noel was remorseful, traumatised and continued to have nightmares.
“I dare say he will carry this for the rest of his life.”
However, Blaikie said Howard himself was “substantially the cause of the accident and the outcome”.
He was wearing dark clothing and riding a bike at night with no reflectors, and while Le Noel was driving at speed and close to the centre line, he was on the correct side of the road.
Moments before the crash, Howard crossed the centre line on to the wrong side, for reasons no one would ever know.
Those factors meant Le Noel was entitled to a “substantial discount” on any prison term. That was rejected by Judge Howard-Sager.
She said that if Le Noel had not been travelling at such a high speed in a residential area, he might have avoided Howard – “or at the very least the consequences may not have been so severe”.
“Speed limits, particularly in residential areas, are there for very good reason ... because people may be on the roads when they are not expected. I do not accept that Matthew is primarily responsible for this accident.”
Earlier, prosecutor Eilish O’Connor read a victim impact statement from Howard’s father’s partner. She described the teen as “gentle, quiet and kind”.
He adored his new baby niece and, while not naturally academic, he was starting to find his way in life.
She felt “angry and sickened” when she learned Le Noel had been driving at more than double the speed limit, because that meant the crash had been entirely preventable.
“You took Matthew from us forever, now there’s just an empty space where his light used to be.”
Ten members of Howard’s family were in court, as were Le Noel’s parents and some of his relatives.
After sentencing, Matthew Howard’s mother, Kelly Howard, told RNZ her son was “the most wonderful person”.
“He was love, he was light, he cared about everybody. He would never hurt a soul.
“Now’s he free, and he wants everybody to be love and light too.”
The tragedy shook the small, close-knit town and reignited long-standing calls for speed bumps on Settlers Way.
The town’s broad main street has two schools, cafes, shops and many cyclists, because of its key location on the Twin Coast Cycle Trail.
A petition on change.org calling on the Far North District Council to expedite the installation of speed bumps gathered 448 signatures.