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Home / New Zealand

'Kill em with kindness' - killer driver Rouxle Le Roux takes on her haters

Anna Leask
By Anna Leask
Senior Journalist - crime and justice·NZ Herald·
4 Mar, 2019 07:30 PM5 mins to read

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Rouxle Le Roux speaks out after hit-and-run incident.

Killer driver Rouxle Le Roux has taken to social media to discuss her remorse and rehabilitation, and to explain an earlier post that offended some online.

Le Roux, 19, is serving a sentence of home detention after killing teenager Nathan Kraatskow last May.

She had been drinking wine and smoking cannabis before she got behind the wheel of a friend's Mercedes and hit and killed the 15-year-old at the Oteha Valley Rd offramp in Albany. Nathan was cycling home when he was killed.

Last week the Herald revealed Le Roux had been charged with breaching the conditions of her home detention.

A condition of her sentence is that she must answer the door and present herself to authorities at any given time.

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On February 20 it is alleged she failed to respond to two visits where probation officers knocked repeatedly on the door of her home.

Nathan Kraatskow died after being hit by a car driven by Rouxle Le Roux. Photograph supplied
Nathan Kraatskow died after being hit by a car driven by Rouxle Le Roux. Photograph supplied

It is understood Le Roux claims she did not hear authorities knocking on her door.

She is due to appear in the North Shore District Court tomorrow.

Last night she took to Facebook to explain herself over a post which appeared to cause offence to some people.

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The earlier post reportedly had a caption that stated "kill em with kindness".

"Alright so I want to make it clear my caption was not intended to offend anyone and I apologise if it has done so," Le Roux posted.

"Kill em with kindness is a saying which I have been trying to live by lately.

"It is meant to cause discomfort to someone by treating them in a way that is extremely kind helpful or unexpected instead of returning the insult.

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"This is something I have had to learn to do with the amount of negative comments and hate I receive."

Le Roux said she knew it would not do "anyone any favours" if she retaliated when people abused her.

Instead, she does the "unexpected" and was "kind even when people are being cruel".

"Just because people treat me a certain way doesn't mean I should give them the same treatment in return because then I would be just as bad," she posted.

"Hate is such a ugly thing and it would be shame if I let it consume my heart.

"I'm simply sitting my sentence minding my own business and just trying to do better by turning my life around and have actually been doing a really awesome job so far despite all of the negative publicity I'm receiving and I'm super proud of myself for it."

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Le Roux said no matter what she did, people were "always going to find fault" and she was "always going to be the bad guy".

"No matter what I say or how I say it my words are always going to be taken out of context by the people that are opinionated about me," she wrote.

"So go ahead and hate all your heart desires because at the end of the day it shows more about you as a person."

Rouxle Le Roux in an undated image from Instagram posted before she was sentenced for killing a teenager. Photograph supplied
Rouxle Le Roux in an undated image from Instagram posted before she was sentenced for killing a teenager. Photograph supplied

Le Roux also spoke about how killing Nathan had impacted on her.

"I know better than anyone what has happened is something I can't take back," she said.

"I have to live with it for the rest of my life and carry it around with a heavy heart, but I'll be damned if I let anyone tell me they know my intentions aren't good and that I have no heart and feel nothing for what's happened.

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"That is not true… and if you were in my position you would know that.

"If you're gonna throw accusations like that around then you're gonna have to walk a mile in my shoes first.

"Please worry about your own lives and let me focus on mine and my rehabilitation.

"That's all that I wanted to get out there."

Le Roux signed off with "have a lovely night everyone and stay safe".

In December Le Roux was sentenced to 11 months' home detention.

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She was also ordered to complete 250 hours of community work and was disqualified from driving for two-and-a-half years.

The sentence sparked outrage across New Zealand and upset Kraatskow's family.

His mother Charlene Kraatskow started a petition on Change.org calling on prosecutors to appeal Le Roux's sentence and seek a harsher penalty.

The Crown reviewed the sentence but decided it would not appeal.

Charlene Kraatskow spoke to the Herald after the Crown advised her of the decision.

"Obviously we are really disappointed because we don't think that the sentence is the right consequence for the crime," she said.

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"But there's not much more we can do."

Days before Christmas, Le Roux spoke exclusively to the Weekend Herald.

She claimed she thought about her young victim "all the time" and "prayed" that she could
"make it right somehow".

"I am sorry and know words will never bring him back," she said.

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