A drink driver who tried to make a passenger take the fall following a fatal crash on Auckland’s Northwestern Motorway last year has pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
“Have I ever killed you before?” Leilah Faamausili responded when one of her four passengers asked her to slow down - moments before she lost control of the vehicle, causing it to roll multiple times.
With her headlights off, Faamausili’s Mazda Atenza swerved abruptly from the middle lane to the far-right lane of State Highway 16 near Point Chevalier on the night of last May 31 - during King’s Birthday weekend.
The vehicle then swerved from side to side within the lane, causing other cars to take evasive action, before it slid sideways across other lanes and began to roll.
The defendant wasn’t supposed to be behind the wheel.
Three months earlier, she had been convicted at Manukau District Court of drink driving, resulting in a six-month driving disqualification. Despite the restriction, she was caught behind the wheel in Pōkeno a week later and convicted again in April.
Her disqualification was extended to February 2026.
Meanwhile, the warrant of fitness for her car had expired in March last year. An investigation after the crash found that the vehicle wouldn’t have passed aninspection.
Faamausili again disregarded the court orders not to drive on the night of the crash, when she met family and associates in Manurewa.
While socialising, she consumed pre-mixed vodka drinks before driving to a liquor store to buy more alcohol, according to the agreed summary of facts for her case.
After about two hours, she drove to West Auckland with four passengers to pick up a fifth person.
“Ms Faamausili continued to consume alcohol while driving between Manurewa and Avondale,” court documents state.
After swerving onto the wrong side of Rosebank Rd to pick up the fifth passenger, she headed towards the motorway, dangerously overtaking other vehicles and travelling at an estimated 80km/h in a 50km/h residential zone.
“Passengers within the vehicle were telling Ms Faamausili to slow down,” court documents state. “Ms Faamausili continued driving dangerously onto the Northwestern Motorway and accelerated to speeds of 130 kilometres per hour...”
No one inside the Mazda was wearing a seatbelt when it started to roll. One passenger was ejected through an open window and landed roughly 4m away, but he survived.
But fellow backseat passenger Saia Ifopo, 23, died at the scene after being thrown into the interior windscreen.
Two other passengers managed to emerge from the wreckage with only minor injuries, but the defendant had to be removed by emergency responders after suffering a badly dislocated hip.
“Prior to being transported to Auckland Hospital, Ms Faamausili had a brief conversation with [one of the surviving passengers] before she implied to police that he was the driver,” court documents state.
“When interviewed by police at hospital, Ms Faamausili initially stated that [the 21-year-old passenger] was driving but later admitted to being the driver.”
Faamausili wept yesterday as she left the dock following the brief arraignment hearing in the High Court at Auckland. She left the courtroom trailed by a small group of supporters.
Justice David Johnstone allowed her to remain on bail until her sentencing next month, noting that she has abided by bail conditions since the crash.
For the manslaughter charge, Faamausili now faces a potential sentence ranging from home detention to life imprisonment. She also pleaded guilty to driving while disqualified, driving with excess blood alcohol content and driving with a high-risk level of cannabis in her system.
All three of the additional charges carry sentences of no more than three months’ imprisonment.
Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.
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