‘He just went like a blank’
Leatham had been on his way to see his good friend Moana Carol Aporo when the crash happened.
She said Leatham was deeply affected by the crash, and his health declined rapidly.
“It just all changed. He just went like a blank. He didn’t take it well at all. He told me he felt terrible and he just wished it was him [who died]. I said, ‘No it wasn’t meant to be’,” Aporo said.
She described Leatham as a solitary type – a kind, religious man who had been dogged by ill health for decades.
Leatham had lived with Parkinson’s disease and a long-term stomach tumour.
He was admitted to hospital about two weeks after the crash, Aporo said.
“He had a stomach tumour. It was there all the time, but it came back in a very bad way. He’d been to hospital three times before. He was having biopsies and he’d just been through the works,” she said.
Aporo said she’d been driven by Leatham on multiple occasions and had always felt safe, but he had admitted to her that he was having difficulty with one of his eyes, which had started to weep.
“I travelled with him everywhere. He was always a safe driver. He won’t go faster than 80 [km/h]. My friend said, ‘You can pass him walking the way he drives’.”
She believed he had a current driver’s licence.
Aporo said Leatham had wanted to approach the victims of the crash and their families, but his health had deteriorated before that would have been possible.
Leatham was admitted to a local hospice last month and died within two weeks of arriving.
Aporo said she was at his bedside for his final hours.
‘It’ll haunt me forever’
The general manager of Poppies Winery, Shayne Hammond, said that on the day of the crash, he stayed with Leatham while others rushed to help the injured.
“‘I shouldn’t be driving’, [that’s] exactly what he said. It’ll haunt me forever.
“He wasn’t injured, he was just disorientated – and probably in a bit of shock – and he said, ‘I didn’t see them, I didn’t see them’.
“It’s heartbreaking.”
Hammond said he spotted what he thought looked like a hospital wristband on Leatham’s wrist as he spoke to the man.
“The whole community [has gone], ‘The speed needs to change and signs need to go up’, and yeah ... it’s happening, but – in this circumstance – nothing would’ve changed the outcome because he was not supposed to be driving. He was sick,” Hammond said.
Victims ‘denied the opportunity to see justice served’ - South Wairarapa Mayor
The Mayor of South Wairarapa, Martin Connelly, said the victims of the crash may be dismayed that they will not get justice for the fatal crash.
“I certainly extend my condolences to his family, but I also extend my condolences to the families of the people he killed and injured on the road because they will now be denied the opportunity to see justice served in a court case.”
Connelly said the crash had a “disturbing impact on the community”.
“The sort of bike that the people were riding in – you see a lot of them – and normally what you see is people having the time of their lives. To suddenly have [a person] die on your doorstep was a huge shock.
“Nobody wants to have something like this happen to a visitor,” Connelly said.
