Community work sentence cancelled for Whangārei road worker who killed motorcyclist

Caleb Pukeroa-Bucknell, 23, died when the motorcycle he was riding was hit by Jerome Tuaumu in April of 2021. Photo / Supplied

A Fulton Hogan road worker who killed a motorcyclist while overtaking a pilot vehicle and road sweeper won’t have to finish his community service because he’s allegedly being threatened by people who knew the dead man.

Jerome Tuaumu was sentenced in October 2022 to community detention, emotional harm reparation, 100 hours of community work and disqualified from driving for 12 months for careless driving causing the death of 23-year-old Cale Pukeroa-Bucknell, in an emotionally charged sentencing that continued to erupt outside the courts.

Tuaumu was driving his company truck that was towing a trailer, behind the pilot vehicle and a road sweeper in a convoy on Matapouri Rd when he decided to overtake both vehicles in April 2021.

As Tuaumu was coming back into his lane approaching a corner, Pukeroa-Bucknell came around the bend on his motorcycle, sighted the oncoming truck and lost control. He hit the side of Tuaumu’s truck and died at the scene.

When sentenced before Judge Bayley in 2022, family and friends of Pukeroa-Bucknell expressed the grief and anger they had experienced over the loss of a much-loved brother, son, uncle and friend resulting in the judge having to leave court a number of times due to outbursts from the gallery directed at Tuaumu.

A review of his sentence was heard before Judge Philip Rzepecky in the Whangārei District Court on Wednesday where Tuaumu’s lawyer James Cairney appeared via CCTV. He told the court Tuaumu had been threatened multiple times at probations by various people affiliated to Pukeroa-Bucknell and there were real concerns for his safety.

Tuaumu did not physically appear in court as he was out working with Fulton Hogan on the Cyclone Gabrielle clean up.

Members of the victim’s family were also not present.

When Corrections was asked by Judge Rzepecky whether to impose a replacement sentence, the court was told Corrections was not seeking to impose any further sentence.

Pukeroa-Bucknell’s sister Deva McQueen, told NZME the whānau were not aware the sentence for community work was up for review until media made contact after the fact.

“Neither he nor his company have expressed any remorse at all in 22 months. We all know that no legal sentence will bring Cale back to us, we are not relying on the Department of Justice for our peace but to allow this person who killed a young man to cancel half of his sentence just months later is a slap in the face.”

McQueen made comment the family thought it was “unusual” his sentence was not replaced by something equal or he wasn’t moved to complete the sentence at another agency.

“We carry a life sentence for the choice he made that day and he is not expected to complete a light court-ordered sentence. Where is the justice in that and his remorse?

“I haven’t heard a single word about any of my family retaliating or threatening him.”

Pukeroa-Bucknell’s tangi drew hundreds of mourners, at times, shutting down access to Raumanga Valley Rd over the three-day period.

“There’s a patch of grass next to my brother’s grave that doesn’t grow because every single evening, someone who loves and misses him very much sits there,” she said.

McQueen acknowledged the “handful of genuinely caring police and court staff” who assisted the whānau through an almost two-year court process and said the family were grateful for their service.