Charity motorcycle rally fatality: Defence lawyer challenges report suggesting U-turn before crash

Robyn Peters died in a crash during a charity motorcycle rally in February 2021. Photo / Supplied

A motorcyclist's lawyer disputes that the man was making a U-turn immediately before a collision which killed another rider during a charity rally.

Robyn Olive Peters, 51, of Waipawa, died following the crash towards the end of a bike rally around Napier to raise funds for the SPCA on February 7, 2021.

She collided with a 1200cc BMW bike ridden by Auckland man John Nelson Berridge, 65, who is facing a trial before Judge Robert Spear in the Napier District Court.

Berridge has pleaded not guilty to two charges of careless use of a motor vehicle – one involving the injury of his pillion rider, and one leading to Peters' death.

Questioned in court on Wednesday, Berridge could not remember what happened during the crash which left him with a compound fracture to his right leg.

"I have no recollection of the accident at all," he said.

The last thing he remembered was turning his body and his head to look over his shoulder while waiting on the side of the road before the crash.

His next recollection was being tumbled through the air "like a camera that's been dropped".

The prosecution case, outlined by police Senior Sergeant Dean Goodall, was that Berridge pulled out to do a U-turn "directly into the path" of Peters' Honda VTR 250 on State Highway 51 south of Napier.

Much of the evidence on Tuesday and Wednesday concerned a report based on evidence gathered from the scene, including marks on the road and the damage to the motorcycles, presented by serious crash investigator Senior Constable Tim Rowe.

Defence counsel Alistair Haskett challenged Rowe's analysis suggesting a T-bone accident, and put it to him that Berridge was within the lane heading north towards Napier when the crash happened.

"I suggest that the BMW wasn't going across the lane, it was northbound," Haskett said.

"I disagree with that," Rowe said.

Haskett suggested to Rowe that damage to the BMW was consistent with it being struck by the Honda from the rear, rather than at a 90-degree angle.

Rowe disagreed with that also.

Earlier, Berridge's pillion rider, Georgina Carson-Waihi, whom he had met at the organiser's house the night before the crash, described the moment of impact.

In common with other riders on the Paws for a Cause charity rally, she had her dog with her in a harness.

She said she saw Peters' bike coming towards them as Berridge's bike moved "from left to right" and scooped up her small white dog to protect him.

"When I locked him [the dog] in my fingers, she hit us," Carson-Waihi said.

"She connected and ... all I know was I could see my dog in the sky. I don't really know how far I was off the ground."

She remembered hitting the ground and her dog, which landed on top of her, was licking her face.