Arvind Kummar was killed in a car accident on George Bolt Memorial Drive near Auckland Airport.
Arvind Kummar was killed in a car accident on George Bolt Memorial Drive near Auckland Airport.
An Australian national accused of fleeing the scene after a fatal crash near Auckland Airport can now be named.
Melbourne resident Michael Rockafella, 36, appeared in the High Court at Auckland today for the first time on what Justice Mathew Downs characterised as a “suite of serious charges”.
He entered not guilty pleas through his lawyer to manslaughter, causing injury to another person while operating a vehicle recklessly, possession of methamphetamine, driving with excess blood alcohol and with drugs in his system and possession of a cannabis plant.
A trial has been set for October next year.
The crash occurred around 4am on Wednesday, July 30, resulting in the death of 45-year-old Arvind “Ronald” Kummar and the hospitalisation of his seriously injured wife.
George Bolt Memorial Drive - the main road leading to the airport - was temporarily closed, resulting in a warning from police that travellers risked missing flights if they didn’t make accommodations.
George Bolt Memorial Drive in Auckland airport where a 4am fatal crash occurred on 30 July 2025. Photo / Jason Dorday
Kummar was described in Facebook tributes as a “charming and loving” husband who was religious and “never turned back to say no”.
He had been headed to the airport that morning, intending to drop his wife off for a flight to Fiji, where she was to attend her aunt’s funeral.
A close family friend of the couple told the Herald last month that wife Jashoda Goundar was recovering from serious spinal injuries in Middlemore Hospital.
Arvind Kummar, 45, died in an accident on George Bolt Memorial Drive. Photo / Supplied
Kummar would have headed into work after the early drop-off, the friend said.
The truck driver had moved to New Zealand two years earlier on a work visa. He was described as the sole earner in the family, helping to take care of his parents, wife, sisters and nieces.
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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