Ngakau Hailey, pictured, died after being hit by a car at a Hamilton intersection in July last year while on a dirt bike. Photo / LoveRacing
Ngakau Hailey, pictured, died after being hit by a car at a Hamilton intersection in July last year while on a dirt bike. Photo / LoveRacing
A woman has admitted causing a crash that killed a promising young jockey who was riding a dirt bike at an intersection.
Despite the guilty plea, the family of the victim, Ngakau Hailey, is fighting the release of the court’s summary of facts document, which details exactly what happened thatday.
This afternoon, Amal Salad, 40, made a brief appearance in the Hamilton District Court, where she pleaded guilty to a charge of careless driving causing Hailey’s death on July 9 last year.
She was remanded on bail ahead of her sentencing next month, and NZME was granted the summary of facts from Community Magistrate Ngaire Mascelle.
However, the victim’s mother subsequently stood up and addressed the magistrate, saying she didn’t want the document released.
In a memorandum to Mascelle, following an adjournment, the family said they opposed its release as they had received a lot of harassment since Hailey’s death.
Mascelle granted the family’s request and declined to issue the summary to the media, but then said there was a high chance the document would be released at sentencing.
Mourners do wheelies on their dirt bikes on the Waikato Expressway after the funeral for jockey Ngakau Hailey last year. Hailey died while riding a dirt bike.
The summary of facts is an agreed statement outlining what happened that day, both Salad’s and Hailey’s actions in the lead-up to the Hamilton crash, as well as the direction, speed, and manner in which they were both driving.
Hailey, 18, was a promising jockey and was set to ride at the Cambridge races the day after his death.
A Givealittle page was also set up to support his family through the tragedy, which raised more than $11,000.
NZ Thoroughbred Racing chief operating officer Darin Balcombe said Hailey had been described as someone who always had “a smile on his face” and was “a really talented rider”.
Meanwhile, just days after his funeral, a video surfaced online of a group of mourners performing wheelies on the Waikato Expressway.
The group’s actions, carried out in wet and foggy conditions, were later condemned by police.
Hailey’s grandmother, Linda Gough, told the Herald at the time that their family also condemned the actions of the dirt bikers during the final journey to the cemetery, saying that it put their family in danger.
Gough said Hailey often told his family how much he enjoyed dirt bike riding.
“He said, ‘My mind goes free, I’m free’.”
Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for 11 years and has been a journalist for 22.
